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The Dragon Reborn
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Date Posted: 22:25:14 06/15/02 Sat
Built upon the remnants of Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Empire became an enormous power that covered much of central Europe, encompassing France, Germany and Italy. With it’s huge armies it remained an unyielding bastion against the troubles of Europe and the world beyond for hundreds of years to come; descending to the German Empire that fell finally in the early twentieth century..
The Teutons of Age of Kings make a slower starting, slower moving, yet unstoppable juggernaut when turned to the battlefield. With a wide range of weapons in their arsenal they have multitudes of options to field against their enemies.
--Teuton Bonuses--
Teutons are not known for any remarkable bonuses, but they are far from the least powerful and useful in the game…
Units more resistant to conversion
Monks heal from twice as far
Towers garrison twice as many units
Murder Holes free
Farms cost –33%
Town Center +5 LOS
Units more resistant to conversion
Teuton units, and those of their allies benefit against the rare yet terrifying prospect of Monks fielded in combat. It makes their slow moving TK’s even harder to kill, and makes up somewhat for their lack of Light Cavalry as a monk counter. The bonus is very useful against the terrifying Aztec Monks, or against the rare SMUSH.
Monks heal from twice as far
A benefit to the Teuton player in healing his gold heavy units upon which the Teuton is heavily reliant. It makes up for the Teuton lack of Herbal medicine in its own way; as Teuton monks can safely heal units doing battle from a safe distance.
Towers garrison twice as many units
Often dismissed as a useless bonus, the Teuton tower bonus is almost invaluable in some situations. In Feudal Age combat, the Teuton has the marked advantage in an unsavoury tower to tower combat. It’s also advantageous for towering an enemy TC, in that you can get more arrows out of the one tower at the TC. As well, due to the extra firepower being thrown out of a fully garrisoned tower, it kills Skirmishers in critical less volleys. Extra garrison space means more villagers can take refuge within its safety, where as another civilisation one or two lumberjacks are left to the tender mercies of raiding units.
Murder holes free
One of the critical techs of Age of Kings is Murder Holes; and the Teutons get it free, as soon as they enter castle, where every other civilisation has to pay 200 wood for a university, then a further 200 food and stone, and then wait out the research time. So what’s it good for? Firstly, it doubles the value of Towers surviving from Feudal conflicts, in that one or two knights can no longer expect to take it down without a care in the world. It also increases the effectiveness of the Teuton Castle drop.
Farms cost –33%
Again, underrated but likely very valuable. “Teutons farms cost 20 less wood, so what?” you say. It means that for every three farms another civilisation buys, the Teuton can afford four. He pays less to support his farms, or he builds more farms. Either way his economy is boosted, be it for wood or for food. In the boom, the Teuton is more likely to be able to afford farms for his rapidly expanding economy, thus providing food that is returned to the stockpile faster to increase villagers faster. It also allows the Teuton to produce those food heavy castle age units with more ease.
Town Center +5 LOS
Toned down from the 13 range ‘death start’ town centers of the original age of kings, the Teutons have retained the line of sight bonus, which still kick-starts the Teutons for their first 5 minutes. The extra 5 tile radius nearly always encompasses the starting sheep, berry patch, deer patch and more often than not, one or both of your starting boars. As well as this, it’s saved your scout more than one full circuit of your town center in scouting.
--Teuton Strengths--
Knights
Teuton Cavalry is limited in its strength, lacking Light Cavalry yet having the entire Knight line with every tech save Husbandry. The faster moving, hard hitting knight is a critical element of the Teuton military, but is extremely gold intensive if not supported properly, where cheaper halberds and camels make short work of the expensive unit.
Infantry
While their infantry have no bonus, the Teutons are one of only six civilisations to have both Halberds and Champions fully upgraded. Their powerful later game economy makes them excellent at Infantry flooding, be it Champions or Halberds either one. As an alternative to Champions, the slow, hard-hitting TK makes a difficult to counter juggernaut. Despite the critics who will deprecate it’s uses and discredit it’s practicality as ‘too slow’; it still makes an awe-inspiring combat unit, tackling champions at a four to one ratio, being able to defeat a paladin one on one, and having the greatest attack bonus against buildings of any unit other than the Tarkan.
Siege
Teuton Siege has no equal for practical combat. Heavy Scorpions when fielded effectively can bring down hundreds of units before their terrifying hail of fire. Bombard cannons are a serviceable weapon to any player, being able to knock down trebuchets from the safety of defending units 13 tiles away from the enemy, flattening shoreline harassing ships, and bringing down enemy archers and monks. Though rarely fielded, Teutons have access to the terrifying Siege Onager as well.
Bombard Towers
Available only to 7 of the 18 civilisations in Age of Kings, bombard towers are a terrifying prospect to deal with. They increase the odds of victory on any battlefield, and consolidate gained territory for longer. Being cheaper than castles, it’s not such a loss when one is destroyed. While Teutonic bombard towers lack Bracer, they still have a terrifying 10 range and deal 100 damage a hit. While expensive and not in all games a viable option, bombard towers are a distinct advantage to any player.
--Teuton Weaknesses—
Light Cavalry
The only civilisation in age of kings to lack the light cavalry upgrade – save of course, the Meso-Americans – this puts the Teutons at a profound disadvantage. Even those civilisations like Vikings whose Light Cavalry misses numerous technologies have a fast moving, gold free raider. The Teutons must make do with Halberds, which while fast moving lack the same raiding ability as Light Cavalry, and Paladins which as much or more gold than ever combat unit in the game!
Archers Teuton Archers, and skirmishers for that matter are pretty useless past Feudal. Lacking Bracer, Thumb Ring and the Arbalest upgrade, Teutons lack the effective combat capabilities of Archers. Their only viable rangde weapons are Hand Cannoneers, which cost more and except under limited circumstances have less effect, and more expensive cannons, onagers and scorpions.
--Through the Ages--
Any player can play any team as they wish and as uniquely as they like, but here’s a broad outline of Teuton strengths and tactics through the ages.
The Teuton Dark Age is no different from usual, save the advantage presented by having immediate knowledge of the whereabouts of your initial food sources.
The Feudal Age Teuton player has stronger farming and less strain on woodcutting, and will allow you to field skirmishers to defend the flush. The upcoming patch is making flushing even harder and improving the chances of non-‘flushing’ civilisations, even if they are probably still not viable in 1v1 games. A handful of Teuton extra garrison towers provide excellent refuge for villagers away from the safety of your Town Center while you gather the necessary resources to advance to Castle. If you are attacked, don’t waste your resources castling, defend aggressively, striking out and nullifying enemy towers and forwards, and even counter-flushing the enemy.
Upon reaching Castle Age, the Teuton quickly develops his offensive plan while preparing to knight rush, destroy any remaining towers and Archery Ranges and building his second and third Town Centers. The cheaper farm bonus really begins to kick in as he expands quickly to an appropriate economic strength. If raided by knights or eagle warriors, those 10 garrison towers with free Murder Holes surviving feudal on his critical resources will provide pause to the attacker, and his new Town Centers will protect those others villagers.
Expanding the military strength at this stage, the Teuton has probably placed his first castle, after considering whether to try and push a full-offensive castle age or wait the enemy out until Imperial. The first Teutonic Knights, funded by the strong farming base now wipe out pikes and knights harassing or attacking, with knights still raiding to keep the enemy occupied and others dispatching attempts to batter down your castles or Town Centers. He’s probably researched bloodlines by now. Producing mangonels at this stage reduces the crossbow threat from archer-heavy civilisations and allows you to assault forward Town Centers, rams and petards his castles. At this stage he begins selling of his wood and food and tries to crash the market if it hasn’t been done already.
Moving to Imperial Age now, the Teuton is likely to immediately take advantage of the cavalier upgrade, and depending on what he is facing, halberd and two-handed swordsman; while remembering that no matter what, more units is more important than upgrades. He researches Guilds. As soon as possible he gets chemistry and begins to use bombard cannons alongside his trebuchets. As battles begin to even out, he focuses on the bombard tower upgrade and begins to build those in the focal battlefields his enemy is assaulting. He uses his bombard cannons now to try and bring down Trebuchets instead of his cavaliers or paladins, as by now the enemy is indubitably using halberds. If possible, he buys heavy scorpions to support his Infantry with sheer power. If he can afford, he as upgraded to elite Teutonic Knight and is maintaining a constant force of them to hit enemy champions or cavalry. They are also acting as the screening force on the Teuton siege. Eventually, with enough proper management, he wins, or if his economy fails him, he loses.
--Combined arms--
The Teutons have some huge weaknesses in their tech tree. Striking at these weaknesses should be a high priority of enemy tactics, as is the game’s nature. To prevent this you must cover their weaknesses at all costs. The best way to do this is by even more extensively accentuating their strengths. This reinforces my law of AoK: A unit is only as good as your ability to back it up.
Swordsmen, Teutonic Knights
Champions should make the bulk of every practical army. They cost 20 gold, have no counter that costs less gold, and are produced in a handy 16 seconds. While many players are oft to rely solely on Champions or Teutonic Knights one or the other, this can prove unwise due to the unique strengths of both. Teutonic Knights, while ridiculously gold-intensive, make a difficult unit to counter. In the Castle Age, it can’t be effectively countered by knights and dispatches pikes with insulting ease. Combined, these two units cover a broad range of situations.
Halberdiers
With sixty hit points and 10 attack, the halberdier is well worth the 35 food and 25 wood you pay. With the Teuton cheaper farm bonus included, plus the two-man saw and crop rotation upgrades, the Teutons can support tons of farms with very few lumberjacks and produce halberdiers by their thousands, as well as being an ideal counter to enemy cavalry and camels.
Paladins
A critical element of every army, cavalry is all the more important to the Teuton, probably the most significant element of the Teuton army. The paladin is a fast moving power unit that serves as the Teutons’ reaction to threats like hand cannoneers, trebuchets and scorpions. It is also ideal for skirmishing and engaging enemy units and forcing them to hold and deliver while slower Teutonic knights and champions engage and fight while the cavalry withdraws. It is the Teutons only solution for a raiding unit. However, being gold-heavy a Teuton should beware not to make it the focus of his armies and waste unnecessary resources in doing so, but rather to make sure he keeps it focused as a reaction unit and let his cheaper infantry do the fighting.
Bombard Cannons
Only available to half the civilisations in the game, bombard cannons are invaluable. While more expensive and less enduring than trebuchets, which are also available to every player in the game; bombard cannons have numerous advantages over a trebuchet in practical use. First, cannons have the ability to nullify enemy siege weapons before they become a threat to the Teutons’ tactically infantry reliance. It can also destroy trebuchets from the safety of defending units over 12 tiles away. As well as this, a number of cannons can wipe out archers faster than mangonels.
--Important upgrades--
Cavalier, Paladin unit upgrades
Critical to the Teuton offensive capabilities in late game are the expensive knight line upgrades, providing strength and speed to back the Teuton masses, Teutonic Knights, spearmen and swordsmen, to power to take the extra hits from defensive pikes and camels when attacking siege and come out alive. Earlier in the game, when you approach considerable numbers of knights say 8 or 9, you will want to get the Bloodlines upgrade as well.
Champion unit upgrade
While many players disregard it and rely on Teutonic Knights, champions are a more practical option in the broader scheme of things and prudence says to research it as early as possible. If you intend to use gold-heavy knights and siege, you want your infantry to be as little reliant on gold as possible, and champions cost half the gold per unit that a Teutonic Knight does.
Chemistry
Chemistry not only allows you to build bombard cannons, a valuable asset to the Teuton player, as outlined above, but also opens up the possibility of hand cannoneers and the bombard tower upgrade.
Blacksmith upgrades
Critical to any civilisation’s continued success, blacksmith upgrades provide small but significant extra power to your units. The Teuton player should first get the two attack upgrades, then the first infantry and cavalry upgrades, then the necessary techs as resources allow.
--Conclusion--
I wrote this guide to try and voice my thoughts on this less-known, less-played civilisation and increase awareness of all players of Age of Kings, to try and make people try different civilisations in their playing of this great game. So now that you have read, I challenge you to go out and try the Teutons. Perhaps you’ll like them as much as myself.
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