Guys, I've just been reading all these posts about Germany's UA.. But to be honest I can't believe no one is saying anything about Sweden from G&K. If there was ever a more usless UA for a civ this had has to be my choice. When I played Germany I played with raging barbarians and I found them really quite useful in capturing a huge army with Honor selected as a social policy.
As for Sweden, I found nothing useful about their UA.. Nothing! I played a game where every Civ was random, including me and when I saw I got Sweden I was horrified! I could never envisage giving away a precious great person for a quick influence boost that can easily otherwise be achieved through missions or bought outright anyway.. And that bit about gaining a GP boost by being friends with AI's (that they ALSO share!) was pathetic and hardly noticeable.. oh and don't get me started on their UU's.. Germany's ones are greatly superior!
I know this is a Germany thread, but if anyone has comments on this I'd love to hear them!
I do. First, Raging Barbarians doesn't do a thing to boost Furor Teutonicus. It increases the rate at the barbarians spawn, and not the amount of camps in a game.
Second, I actually like Sweden and I think they are one of the greatest civs overall. 90 influence is very, very, very useful. You can go many roads as Sweden and still get a good game going on:
a) Psycho-Adolphus: just get mad and be THE warmongering menace of the world. Go around on a killing spree by land and sea and generate a ton of GGs and GAs. You could do three things with them: use their bonuses only, use their 15% bonuses until you generate another one and then gift them or gift them outright. I find it very good for a Military victory because you can gift them to Mercantile CS for the happiness you'll probably need or to Militaristic CS for some UUs/regular units (they don't seem very powerful until you get 4 of them allied at the same time, holy cow). You will probably not use the 10% bonus to great people in this kind of game, but you can always start the killing spree when you have the Caroleans (which I consider better than the Panzer, to be honest) and meanwhile enjoy your % boost. The amount of GG and GA is actually big and can net you some alliances that could work towards a Diplo Victory (liberating CS through warring and gifting the generals/admirals) or a Military Victory (just continuing the killing spree while getting some bonuses of culture, happiness, food, units and faith, even science with patronage).
b) Missionary Gustavus: you could heavily focus on religion. If you achieve a good level of faith per turn, you can pump out many Great Prophets. For your religion, picking Interfaith Dialogue, Papal Primacy or Pilgrimage might be a good idea, along with the necessary Messiah (25% discount for Great Prophets). By doing this, you'll get cheaper and better Great Prophets. With pilgrimage, you have the faith to buy them, with Interfaith, you earn science for spreading, with Primacy, you earn influence once you spread. Whichever you choose: spread only 3 of the 4 times and gift the almost dead GProphet to a city state of your choice. Getting the next one won't take too long, and you can continue the cycle. Also, the faith from Pilgrimage might be used for GPersons at the end of the game, which means Alliances (or not). You'll also probably get friends here, so remember that your % bonus is CUMULATIVE, the AI's is not. If you have 4 friends, it is 40% bonus, and each of them will only get 10%.
c) Good Guy Lion of the North: play a small and peaceful game. Heavily increase your GP output with DOFs: staying small means more friends = more % gp modifier. By doing this, it isn't hard to get something around 60%-80% bonus (depends on the map). Alongside with Garden, Freedom Opener, Leaning Tower of Pisa and National Epic, this means 160-180%. You could generate good GP or not: use your Scientists and Engineers for yourself, decide what you'll do with Artists or Merchants. This usually means a big amount of GP that can get you CS alliances or their bonuses. The thing is: you don't have to gift every single GP, you gift the ones you want to give. Sometimes it is much more usefull to ally with a cultural CS rather than starting a Golden Age, for example. You can ally this strategy with the Holy Gustavus one and still get a nice game. Remember: defending your territory might also get you GA/GG = more alliances.
Long story short: Nobel Prize gives you another alternative to GP that would be wasted on lesser bonuses. I'm not talking about Scientists or Engineers. You could spend money on a CS, but why waste a 1000
when you can gift a useless 1-spread Great Prophet? The AI also gets the % modifier, but you get much more, as yours is cumulative. I agree that the Hakkapeliita is quite meh, but the Carolean is not, it is awesome! Come on, March! Anyway, you could create an empire based on GP generating (wonders wonders), a heavily military one (GG and GAs, Honor!) and a religious one (massive prophet generation) and get many alternatives for your bonuses. Ever had an evil Alexander against you on a Diplo Victory? Save some people and plop plop.
Regarding Germany: Landsknecht are very very good, only thing is they cost a whole bunch of money to upgrade. The UA is bad, on the other hand, and this isn't the case where a weak UA would be justified by amazingly awesome UUs. Panzer is ok, but comes quite late.
