15-11-2001 04:22									#1
	Apolyton ExtraCivs Pack: German UU Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

As explained in the main discussion thread, we should decide on some of the Unique Units for the Apolyton ExtraCivs Pack ASAP so the graphics people can start working when they're ready. So that's what this thread is about : deciding what the Unique Unit of the Germans should be. I think I picked the most logical choices but feel free to post alternatives (if 'Other' becomes very popular we could have a 'second round').

For each civ I added a very brief description to give an impresssion of the importance of each unit. Note that I had to make 20 odd descriptions for 5 threads so I didn't bother doing extensive research or anything, 95% of the info is from the top of my head. So it's quite possible I made some mistakes or left out vital information or whatever. I very much encourage others with more knowlegde and time to post more elaborate explanations and/or point out my mistakes (some pictures could be useful as well, esp. for the graphics people).



Explanations:
The Germans were in WWI but especially in WWII famous for their Tanks. Their Blitzkrieg strategy relied heavily on Tanks and Armored Vehicles. Panzer is simply German for Tank. German tanks were generally superior to British and American Tanks but except for the latest models (the old story: too little, too late) were no match for the Russians.

The U-Boat was also a vital weapon for the Germans, esp. early on in WWII. If it wasn't for some poor decisions by Hitler the U-Boat war on the Atlantic would have been won by the Germans and the British would have run out of supplies, making Great Britain a sitting duck for a German invasion force. The formations in which the U-Boats moved around in the later stages of the U-Boat war was called Wolfpack.

The Stuka Divebomber was a very poor design for an airplane but it did its job better than anyone had envisioned in advance: precision bombing and scaring the living sh*t out of the enemy. Though it could carry a decent bombload and was equipped with 4 machine guns, its most powerful weapon was probably the horn that gave it its characteristic shrieking sound that quite possibly made it the scariest conventional weapon in the history of warfare (for whoever was the target).

Prussian riflemen/grenadiers were the troops of the Golden Age of the Germans (the time around the formation of Germany as a country and the Franco-Prussian War). With these troops the Prussians conquered the whole of Germany and no problem with taking on France (taking Paris) or Austria either.

The Teutonic Knights were an order of knights that in Medieval times conquered an empire together against German and East European pagans. They also fought in the Crusades. Basically they were ordinary knights only highly skilled.

	15-11-2001 05:05									#2
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Once again, I suggest if you want "uniquely good infantry" for the Germans, the era of Frederick the Great's greatness (1740-1763ish) would be best. At that time they were the most disciplined troops and therefore the most tactically versatile.

The Prussian troops in 1863 and 70 were certainly very capable, but not uniquely so. The "unique unit" for those wars would more aptly be "the general staff" or just "Moltke the elder." Not very practical

The French troops in 1870-1 were actually much better equipped; they were simply totally mishandled by their supreme commanders. While the Germans concentrated in an efficient manner and attacked with good artillery, the French were more haphazardly organized, men and units not hooking up correctly, were put into a strategically moronic offensive into south Germany which was wrongheaded and totally counterproductive, and they had artillery fusing problems.

So basically I'd characterize the German decisive advantage of this period as being organizational and related to high leadership. It's in the Seven Years War, the First World War and the Second World War that you have uniquely good soldiers or junior leadership.