Well, let's maybe find out how often CiV's "has units on parity with the highest-tech civ" barbs spawn on difficulties that matter before we decide that Germany's ability is terrible. Also, it looks like there's no screenshot confirming the Landsknecht's uniqueness, since Arioch's site just says "One report suggests that the Landsknecht has the same stats as the Pikeman, but is cheaper to produce." Since there's no corroborating screenshot and apparently the report "suggests" it rather than outright saying it, it's certainly not confirmed.
I agree though that Germany's not looking all that exciting though. Since Pikemen look like they're going to be your spammed unit in medieval era (only one other than Crossbows that don't require a strategic resource), it could have been very nice as that could lead to a much bigger "backbone" of your army. However, 1UPT waters that bonus down a bit. Still helpful to have more units to plug holes in your front line, but most of the time they'll probably just be sitting there. Of course, this all depends on 1) that report actually being accurate and 2) the size of the hammer reduction.
