German carpet of DOOM!

svett89

Chieftain
Joined
Apr 18, 2011
Messages
74
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
I tried a very unusual domination tactic today as Germany. I went for a carpet of doom, rather than the typical highly promoted elite force. This is quite a fun strategy to try, so I highly recommend giving it a shot. I'm also curious if something like this could be pulled off on Deity as this was played on Immortal difficulty.

I re-rolled until I got a nice production spot for my capital. I then went tradition to start off, and did not settle any second city. I sped through tradition as fast as possible, all the while teching towards Civil Service after getting the initial techs for luxuries.

Once I got to Civil Service, I had been DoWed by two of my neighbors due to my lack of military units. However, this is where things took a turn for the awesome-sauce.

With my quick-growing capital (due to tradition), I had enough production to pump out 1 Landsknecht / turn on Standard speed. I had already gotten a Barracks and my Heroic Epic up in my capital, meaning I basically got Landsknechts with 1 free promotion and 15 % extra combat strength at a ridiculous rate. After about 20 turns I had already started taking out my neighbors' cities. I basically just rushed in without paying much attention to whether I'd be able to keep the units alive or not as I could replace them so easily.

While I was doing this I teched Iron Working and Mathematics, allowing me to supplement my Pike army with some Catapults. I also went into honor for quicker EXP and more happiness, and the instant heal-promotion was extremely useful. Since your units are basically cannon fodder, wasting promotions was never a huge deal.

This turned into a ridiculously easy domination game. I conquered the last capital on the Pangea (standard size) right after hitting Rifling. At one point, I had over 30 Landsknechts running around, basically just flooding the enemy territory, simply smashing their heads against the cities until they fell. If a city was simply too strong for the Landsknechts, a few catapults / trebuchets could provide support.
 
Works better with China and Cho-ko-nus though :p

What made this a little unique was that I really tried using the German UU and UA to my advantage. Typically, you'd never really use Pike's in an offensive manner as they're so weak, but with the Landsknecht costing half the hammers of a regular pike, and Germany getting a 25 % discount on unit maintenance, it really became a unique experience. :p Even with my insanely big army running around I never really struggled for money, and the fact that I only settled a single city throughout the whole game allowed me to be very strong culturally as well.
 
Good to see that using brawns and not brains can work too, as long as you plan it enough.
Did you puppet or annex those new cities?
 
Good to see that using brawns and not brains can work too, as long as you plan it enough.
Did you puppet or annex those new cities?

I mainly puppeted them. I did annex two cities eventually, mostly because the distance from my capital to the front lines got a little too big. At one point I was considering to cease conquering and just go for a cultural victory, but I decided against it as it felt a bit like chickening out. :>
 
Good job svett89 :D and congrats, you now know how AI mind thinks in military matters. Throw meatbags at it til it dies!

I've done the same. The carpet of doom can be good at holding off enemies fielding tanks and infantry and artillery against you even when you only have landsknechts.
 
Absolutely doable on Deity. I wouldn't tech IW before CS though, Archery is sufficient to fend off the first DoWs. A liberty 4-city NC opening is more solid but a tradition/honor 1 city route is more "fun".

Germany usually gets rated as one of the worst civs but I've always had strong games with them. You just need to know how to play them right, like in your case.
 
That human wave tactic sounds like fun! And with enough gold the pikes could be upgraded to rifles later.
 
That human wave tactic sounds like fun! And with enough gold the pikes could be upgraded to rifles later.

Yup, those riflemen pretty much make sure no cavalry spam will harm me in rifleman era xD Sorry catherine you built all those cossacks? Well avoid me or enjoy watching all those cossacks die a terrible death. <.<
 
Nicely done, svett89. Although I usually play for a Culture or Science victory a good all-out warmongering game makes for a nice change of pace. I'll give your strategy a shot the next time I go a-warring.
 
Nicely done, it sounds exactly like most of my Civ4 games (which just ended being RTS rushes most of the time - ugh).
 
Wouldn't planning constitute application of brains? :p


I bet this would be fun with raging barbarians on.

You are supposed to do the thinking before the game starts, and then enter an insane rage and crush all in your path with your masterplan ;)
 
On Deity, yes, you can outproduce the AI.

Spoiler :




Eventually.
 
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