Teutons/Strategy

Civilization	Technology tree	Strategy

Teutonic Knights are slow, but powerful infantry units.

The Teutons are characterized by the slow but powerful army, having final upgrades of units but lacking speed upgrades. They are well-rounded with potent offensive and defensive capabilities on land.

Strengths

The Teutons can produce all siege weapons other than the Siege Ram, and all naval units except the Elite Cannon Galleon. They also have a potent defense, as they can garrison extra units in towers and obtain Murder Holes for free.

Defensively, the Teutons also have some of the strongest castles in game thanks to their unique Crenellations technology, boosting their range to a max of 13 and adding arrows with garrisoned infantry (which protect castles against rams). This allows Teuton castles to match all non-Turkish Bombard Cannons and Cannon Galleons, leaving them vulnerable to only the trebuchet and elite cannon galleon. The Teutons lack Bracer but even with this drawback teuton towers can support castles as they can garrison 10 units and if they are full they can fire as many arrows as a regular castle giving them devastating firepower. Teutonic Bombard Towers, when fully garrisoned with 10 Hand Cannoneers, fire two cannons simultaneously, making them the second deadliest in the game (behind Turkish Bombard Towers fully garrisoned with Elite Janissaries).

Their economy is also strong; they can research all economic technologies except for Gold Shaft Mining. Furthermore, the economy is boosted by a decent cost reduction for farms. The Teutonic unique unit, the Teutonic Knight, is the strongest infantry unit in the game in terms of raw statistics. It has a high attack and is almost invulnerable in melee combat due to its huge armor rating.

Weaknesses

The Teutons do however have weaknesses. In contrast to their powerful infantry, their archers and cavalry have shortcomings. They cannot research Bracer or Thumb Ring, or train the Arbalest or Heavy Cavalry Archer, and have to rely solely on the Paladin for their cavalry in the late game. The lack of Bracer will hurt the Teuton's defensive capacity lategame, but some of their other bonuses (such as double the garrison for their towers, free Murder Holes, and Crenellations) help compensate for it. Their Paladins are slower than the cavalry of most other civilizations since they do not have Husbandry, and their Teutonic Knights are so slow that ranged units can pick them off at a distance.

Strategy

In The Conquerors and Age of Kings, Teutons have a different start up than other civilizations. This is because their Town Center's +5 line of sight allows them to find herdables faster. This bonus was removed in the Forgotten for a more defensive bonus that allows to the Town Center to garrison more units inside.

Teutons are capable of turtling, rushing, and booming. Their infantry rush is mediocre, with no Dark/Feudal Age bonuses but infantry upgrades will scale well into the late game. Their Trush (Feudal Age Tower Rush) however is one of the best due to free Murder Holes and more garrison capacity, especially when supported by Skirmishers as these can join the forward villagers in towers for even more arrows. They also have a powerful Castle Age Knight Rush, despite the lack of Husbandry, due to their civilization's team bonus of conversion resistance (as monks are the ideal counter to knight rushes).

Although lacking early game economy bonuses, the Teutons have an excellent mid-game boom due to their cheap farms. This is especially important during the late Feudal or early Castle Age when natural food sources run out but wood remains a premium. Combined with their civilization's defensive advantages, this makes the Teutons a very good candidate for the Fast Castle or Fast Imperial strategies.

Just at the start of the game Teutons have already good defense (in Age of Kings and The Conquerors town centers have more attack, in The Forgotten they have more garrison space) so the other way a player normally uses the Teutons is turtling. For this they must create several buildings in the Dark and Feudal ages, like houses for walling and then a few towers. Once they reach the castle age they must create 1-3 castles, build stone walls and research all the necessary technologies at the university and blacksmith (Fletching and bodkin arrow, the Teutons do not have bracer at imperial age) for improving the buildings, it will be necessary to create infantry, especially Teutonic knights, monks, and ranged siege units. Once in the Imperial age the player must research crenelations in order to allow their infantry to shoot arrows when garrisoned in a building. Also, the Imperial age is good for turtling strategies, as the Teutons can create several bombard towers.

Offensively in the Castle and Imperial age, the Teutons can use their unique unit the Teutonic Knight as the base of its army. Despite the fact that they have no access to siege rams, it is useful to create rams since Teutonic Knights have a very slow movement so garrisoning in rams can improve their mobility. Teutons have access to all gunpowder units except the elite cannon galleon, so they normally use the Bombard Cannon as their main siege weapon. They must also use a lot their villagers to create forward towers and castles in order to provide support for the troops which in the siege of an enemy town allows units to retreat to the buildings and shoot arrows once inside. Teutons have also good monks that have a large healing range. This means that their monks can support the front lines of infantry and cavalry at a safe distance. In terms of cavalry, Teutons must use their paladins for raid enemy towns.

In maps with water, Teutons do not have many advantages over other civilizations, but their tower bonus gives them a little edge on defending the shoreline, so they must try to keep dry.

In team games Teutons should take the frontline position as they can defend their allies in the pocket position.

Strategy changes in The Forgotten

Their new unique technology Ironclad improves the melee armor for siege units, making them more resistant to cavalry and infantry attacks (siege units normally are very weak vs. melee units due to their minimum range), this is especially helpful in mid and late game. The Town Center LOS bonus was changed in favor of a garrison bonus (+10 units) and can fire +5 arrows; this new bonus synergizes better with the other Teutonic bonuses and their unique tech Crenellations. Their Monks' healing range bonus is now fixed so monks now can effectively heal units from a farther distance giving to them a supporting bonus that is useful in battles, maintaining the monks at a safe distance.

Strategy Changes in The African Kingdoms

Ironclad now costs 100 less wood than previously and is still a good improvement for the siege units, also considering that African Kingdoms introduced a new type of siege unit: the Siege Tower. Siege towers also have more room for foot troops and are faster than the rams so the Teutons now should use them to improve the mobility of the Teutonic Knight.

Alliances

The Teutons conversion resistance team bonus is valuable whenever the enemy team is making heavy use of monks. Especially the Persian War Elephant is susceptible to conversion, so a team of Teutons and Persians is a good match.

There are a number of team bonuses that are especially useful for the Teutons.

• The Persians help their slower knight units pick off enemy archers better.
• The Byzantines add a healing speed bonus to the Teutonic monks' larger healing range.
• The Koreans reduce Mangonel minimum range, so that they're even better protected against melee assaults.
• Italian Condottieri are an effective counter against gunpowder units, to which the Teutonic infantry and buildings are susceptible.
• The Aztecs' and Spanish' gold bonuses are invaluable since the Teutonic army will consist mostly of units that cost a lot of gold (Knights, Teutonic Knights, hand Cannoneers and monks). The Burmese reveal and share locations of the relics at the beginning, so any that are close to their Teutonic allies will be theirs for the taking, which also help them to secure gold supply for staunch economy and effective army-building.
• The Inca and Chinese farm bonuses makes the cheaper Teutonic farms even more productive.
• By granting Berber units extra resistance from conversion before they commit suicide by Heresy, Teutonic players receive Genitours as saving grace for their feeble missile contingents, plus advanced castles to amass Teutonic Knights and Trebuchets quicker by Kasbah upgrade.
• The Ethiopian team bonus will improve the Line of Sight of the already powerful teutonic towers, and this can be helpful as the player can notice earlier an incoming enemy force giving the player time to garrison units on the towers.
• The Khmer grant range boost for Teutonic Heavy Scorpions, which already have more armor due to Ironclad.
• The Vietnamese grant the Teuton players the Imperial Skirmisher upgrade as a competent anti-archer or anti-halberdier measure, plus a vital component to increase their late-game survivability.

Compared Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages vs other civilizations

• The Teutonic Knight, being a well-rounded infantry, can defeat almost every other non-ranged infantry in the game (except perhaps Aztec Jaguar Warriors and Japanese Samurais, both of which are arguably in tie against Teutonic Knights, due to their attack bonuses). Even the infantry of prominent infantry civilizations (such as Celts, Burmese, Goths, Malay, and Malians) have trouble against Teutonic Knights. Their melee armor also enables them to effectively counter cavalry (with some exceptions, like the Elephants and the Cataphract), so civilizations like Franks, Malians, Berbers, Huns, and Magyars may have trouble against them. They are also useful against buildings, as they have high HP and bonus vs buildings, so civilizations with mediocre defense (such as Goths and Magyars) are threatened by Teutonic Knights. Even civilizations with good defenses (like Incas and Byzantines) will have a harder time against Teutonic Knights.
• As they are enabled to perform a Tower Rush (supported by infantry) or a Town center Rush (who could be risky), and being as well enabled to perform a Knight rush in Castle Age, they are at advantage against civilizations with bad early game in open maps like Arabia, such as Portuguese, Spanish and Turks.
• Thanks to their several defensive bonuses (More garrison space for Towers and Town Centers, better healing range for Monks, Free Murder Holes, and the Crenellations technology), they are defensively at an advantage against civilizations with a mediocre Siege Workshop or anti-building units (such as Britons, Berbers, Japanese and Magyars). Of course, once they get to Imperial, this is no longer a problem.
• As their units have more conversion resistance, enemy Monks will face a hard time against Teutons - even the Monks of prominent Monk civilizations, such as Aztecs, Burmese, Saracens, Slavs, and Spanish.
• Thanks to the Ironclad technology, the Teutons siege also have an edge against the siege of other civilizations (having an edge particularly against Onager volleys, as this technology improves Melee armor), so civilizations with bad Onagers will suffer against the Teutonic siege engines. This also gives them an edge against infantry and cavalry, as they have better chance of survive against them, so Ironclad also makes the Teutonic Scorpions and Onagers a good response against masses of ranged melee units, such as Frankish Throwing Axemen, Malian Gbeto and Saracen Mamelukes. Ironclad also offers a defensive edge in Trebuchet encounters, as Trebuchets deal melee damage, which means Teutonic Trebuchets may survive against almost every other Trebuchet, particularly if those doesn't have any further bonus or upgrade (as most civilizations).
• As they have access to almost all Gunpowder upgrades (only lacking Elite Bombard Cannons), Teutons fare well against civilizations that don't (such as Magyars, Aztecs, Incas, and Celts). This also makes them effective against civilizations with good defenses, such as Byzantines and Chinese, as their Bombard Towers can shoot two cannonballs at once if filled with only Hand Cannoneers, enabling them to make a breach in enemy Walls (if placed for offensive purposes), while their standard Bombard Cannons are always threatening to any opponent settlement.
• As their Monastery only lacks Herbal Medicine, and their Monks have better healing range, they can be used for offense and defense. Civilizations with units with low conversion resistance (such as Persians, Burmese, Khmer, Indians, Vietnamese, Slavs, and Goths) will suffer against Teutonic Monks.

Disadvantages vs other civilizations

• Despite being a well rounded infantry in terms of melee combat, the Teutonic Knight has several drawbacks. They move too slow, so fast moving ranged units (such as Malian Gbetos, Plumed Archers (who also haves an anti-infantry bonus) Cavalry Archers, Mongol Mangudais, Saracen Mamelukes, Genitours and Berber Camel archers) can hit and run them. Archers can also counter them, especially if they catch them from far distances, so Britons, Vietnamese, Ethiopians and Italians are also a threat. As scorpions deal pierce damage instead of melee like Onagers, they can also be used to counter the Teutonic Knights if deployed en masse, so Khmer and Chinese have ways to deal with them. Byzantine Cataphracts are still a threat to Teutonic Knights, despite their melee armor. The same goes for Incan Slingers and Hand Cannoneers (which most gunpowder civilizations have access to). War Elephants and Battle Elephants also have better stats, so they can defeat Teutonic knights.
• Despite Ironclad giving Teutonic Siege engines more melee armor, their siege line are still comparatively inferior to the siege of other prominent siege civilizations, such as Koreans (whose Onagers have better range), Celts (whose siege is produced faster, fires faster and have better HP), or Ethiopians (who have complete Siege upgrades and better splash radius due to Torsion Engines). This also means that civilizations that favor more the use of Scorpions than Onagers (such as Khmer and Chinese) have an edge facing Teutons in siege vs siege encounters, as they still have the same pierce armor. Since they don't get Siege Rams, this forces Teutons to use more the attack-less siege Towers for transporting their slow Teutonic Knights at late game.
• Despite having several defensive bonuses, most of them require garrisoning units inside buildings to get effective and exploit the benefits. Some civilizations (like Goths, Malay, Magyars (with their light Cavalry), Ethiopians (with Shotel Warriors), Franks and Huns (with their fast working stables)) may exploit that fact and break the Teutonic defenses by swarming an army, forcing out the infantry or archers inside Teutonic Towers, Town centers and Castles, in order to counter that army. Also, they lack Architecture, which means their towers are frail against siege.
• Despite Crenellations making Teutonic Castles able to outrange Bombard Towers and Elite Cannon Galleons, the Turks are an exception to this due to Artillery, and they still can be out-ranged by Trebuchets, no matter which civilization we are talking about.
• Mayans, Incas and Aztecs have access to the Eagle Warriors that can counter very effectively siege units as well as Monks (both part of the support Teutons need to thrive on the battlefield). Similarly, civilizations with access to good Light Cavalry (such as Magyars (that also their unique unit deal bonus damage against siege units), Mongols (that not only have good Hussars, but the Mangudai deals bonus damage against siege units) and Huns) can be a huge threat to Teutonic Siege units and monks.
• Being the only non Native-American civilization that lacks Light Cavalry puts Teutons at disadvantage in trash wars, especially against civilizations with good Skirmishers (as they can't counter them very effectively) such as Vietnamese, Britons, and Aztecs, and good Halberdiers (since these would eat the Scout Cavalry) such as most infantry civilizations. This also puts Teutons' cavalry at disadvantage in general, becoming highly reliant on Paladins in that regard, while also lacking a good counter to enemy siege engines.
• Japanese players have an advantage over Teutons, due to their unique tech (Trebuchets pack/unpack faster), the Samurais, and the fact that their bonus (+33% attack speed for infantry) makes Halberdiers very dangerous against the slow Paladins Teutons have.
• Aside from hand Cannoneers, Teutons have mediocre archers, so this also limits the responses they may have against infantry-based civilizations.

Situational Advantages

• Their Town Centers have more garrison space, which could be an advantage in nomad maps if they luckily enough placed their initial Town center near the Town center of an opponent, as they can garrison more villagers and destroy the opponent very early in the match. This advantage is also useful in "Sudden Death" mode, as players are limited to only 1 Town Center and the objective is to destroy that, so the Teuton Town center is better defended. Same For Budapest Map, as every player starts with 2 Town centers.
• Their several defensive bonuses are very helpful in "Defend the Wonder" and "King of the Hill" game modes.
• Their conversion resistance bonus, as well as having an almost complete Monastery tech tree, gives Teutons an advantage in Capture the Relic game Mode, despite the fact they lack the Light Cavalry Upgrade to defend the relic in the center of the map (in Teutons' case, they may instead defend the center relic with other troops, though the scout cavalry still has better conversion resistance, so still is a good counter in this mode).
• In regicide mode, they get an advantage, as they manage to research Crenellations early to defend their initial location better, as well as having Murder Holes for free, since in this mode all players starts with a Castle.
• In Fortress map, as there are pre-deployed Towers, they get an edge early on the game, as well as starting with a Barracks.
• Having access to gunpowder, good defense and a strong unique unit, Teutons are well suited for Post-imperial matches.
• In Death Match mode, as scarcity of gold and stone is not an issue there, Teutons may get an edge if survive until Castle and Imperial age and then release masses of Teutonic Knights + Castles + Bombard Towers + Hand Cannoneers + Bombard Cannons.

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