The German empire in the video game Civilization 5 is one of many different types of civilizations in the game. This guide will give cover the benefits this civilization receives along with their leader, Otto von Bismarck, the Furor Teutonicus ability and their special units like the Landsknecht and Panzer. There are no unique structures for the English in Civ 5.
Civilization Leader: Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck was the first chancellor of the German Empire and Minister President of Prussia reigning from 1862-1890 AD and is largely responsible for creating and unifying Germany as a nation-state, bringing the country to the place of major world player. Also, he is one of the more notable German leaders who wasn’t a complete jerk or didn’t end up leaving the country in a major mess at the end of his rule, to put it lightly. Bismarck is a domination or conquest suited leader, benefiting from some powerful mid and late game units and bonuses for hunting barbarian camps.
Special Ability: Furor Teutonicus
Furor Teutonicus is quite the intriguing special ability and incredibly beneficial for gaining an early upper hand in Civilization 5. Whenever a German civ player destroys a Barbarian camp, there is a 50 percent chance for the player to receive 25 gold in their coffers and having the Barbarian unit join forces and become part of the German army. In addition, Furor Teutonicus helps with fielding large armies by reducing the support cost of all land units by -25 percent. Combined with the Autocracy social policy, total maintenance costs can be reduced by over 50 percent.
Special Unit No. 1: Landsknecht
The Landsknecht is Germany’s unique unit replacement for the Medieval era Pikeman unit. These two melee infantry types have very similar stats, with the Landsknecht differing only by costing half of the production value that the Pikeman does. This means that besides being cheaper, the Landsknecht can be mass produced in far greater numbers, granting the empire an excellent source for countering mounted units which typically have a tendency to trample over non mounted units of the same era. For this reason, players will be ill-advised to field large armies of cavalry against a skilled German player.
Special Unit No. 2: Panzer
The well known Panzer, historically the strongest tank of its time, is the formidable unique unit replacement for the Tank unit of the industrial era. The Panzer benefits from many advantages over the base version, giving it a +20 percent boost in strength up to 60 from 50, costing the same amount of production and also being able to move an extra tile (five total) over the basic version which can only move four spaces. This movement benefit, besides just being a technical advantage, harkens to the Blitzkrieg tactic used by Germany in WWII, allowing this civilization to quickly overtake an enemy with Panzer battalions.