Disclaimer:
In no way am I expecting Prussia to be added as a new civ, I would like it naturally but am fully aware it is of no high priority in any way. This was purely made for my own amusement and I just decided to share this for others to enjoy or discuss. Many people like creating fan-civs and I encourage everyone to create their own fan-civs, it can be a lot of fun doing the research.
Why Prussians?
Prussia was a major power in the European theatre that gradually rose to greatness in the period after the 30 years’ war. In that period many military reforms were made to make the Prussian army one of the largest and strongest in Europe. The state was heavily militarized spending around 80% of its income on the army and was often referred to as an army with a state. After Napoleon’s defeat the Prussians gained control of almost the entirety of modern Germany and would eventually unite Germany in 1871. The in game compendium states the Prussians are most well-known for their line-infantry, Grenadiers and disciplined cavalry, all which are missing from the German civ. The German civ that is currently in the game represent the Holy Roman Empire in the thirty years war yet is somehow led by a Prussian King from the Prussian capital of Berlin. If a Prussian civ would be added the AI leader and the home city can easily be transferred from the German civ and new ones be created for the Germans, new ones had to be created anyway for a new civ. The needle gunner is the only other true reference to Prussia in the German civ and is actually represented wrong anyway, since the needle gun was a line infantry weapon foremost. The needle gunner is merely an imperial upgrade for the skirmisher and does nothing particularly special and can easily be renamed.
Changes to the German civ:
- Frederick the Great AI leader head replaced by an actual Holy Roman Emperor.
- Home city replaced by Vienna.
- Needle gunner renamed.
- Mexico revolution added.
The Mexico revolution would be a reference to Maximilian I of Mexico, he was the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria who was installed as Emperor of Mexico by the French in 1864. He didn’t last long when French support disappeared and the US started assisting the Mexicans leading to his execution in 1867. It is the only change that would affect gameplay for the Germans and could easily be cut.
Overview
The Prussians have the strongest infantry and cavalry in Europe, however they come at a greater cost due to all of them being royal guards. They have no particular economic bonusses at the start but can receive immigrants and other economic bonusses with home city shipments. Be aware that these immigrant civilians cannot be rebuild once lost.
Features
- Builds grenadiers from the barracks instead of the artillery foundry.
- All Military Shipments can be send twice except for mercenaries.
- No special units, but all barracks and stable units are royal guards.
I think Grenadiers from the barracks greatly improves their availability originally I planned to have them start with grenade launchers but perhaps that would be too strong for age II.
Double military shipments is sort of an economic bonus, and represents the Prussian focus on their standing army.
The absence of special units in favour of many royal guards is to represent the Prussians perfecting the common military units. A special unit often merely is a slightly stronger or more focussed version of an existing unit, instead I chose to favour the elite identity of the Prussians. It could also be considered a downside, royal guard upgrades are a lot more expensive than regular guard upgrades making it harder to switch focus when the player has committed to certain units.
Royal Guards
Musketeer (Neuchâteller)
Skirmisher (Schuetzen)
Grenadier (Riesengarde)
Hussar (Totenkopf)
Dragoon (Litevka)
Uhlan (Towarzysz)
Barracks
Musketeer
Grenadier
Skirmisher
Stables
Hussar
Uhlan
Dragoon
Artillery Foundry
Falconet
Culverin
Mortar
Horse Artillery
A modern unit line up, no pikes or crossbows here. Those were disappearing when the Prussian state started to rise. Uhlans are not a special unit if multiple civs have access to them, the Polish and Austrians if added will also probably have access to them. I don’t know how useful they could be for a civ that also has the Hussar but I wanted 3 units in both the stables and barracks. No petards for nations that struggle with low populations was my reasoning for their absence in the artillery foundry.
Revolutions
- Argentina
- Gran Colombia
- African revolution?
- Landwehr
Instead of regular revolutions, the European focused Prussians can quickly conscript all their civilians into the Landwehr. These are functionally the same as Revolutionaries. Prussia can build Landwehr in the barracks or the Towncenter. Revolting does not remove the ability to produce settlers. The Prussians retain their deck and reset all military shipments to be send twice again. The ability to age to the imperial age is removed as usual.
A reference to the seven year’s war mostly when Prussia was in quite a lot of peril being attacked by four enemy nations, perhaps could also work as a German Empire revolt but I’m trying to avoid anything post-Napoleonic. And not going Imperial would perhaps be weird for the German Empire.
Home city cards:
-Age I
German Immigrants : Sends 2 settler wagons.
The Edict of Potsdam encouraged many protestants to settle in Prussia, I use it as an excuse to give them some special villagers each age starting with Germans in age I. The card can be send once and when lost the Settler wagons or other special civilians will be gone.
Der Alte Fritz : Improves the Explorer in combat and gives him a canine companion. Gives a small healing aura to the explorer.
An attempt at making a interesting explorer card since most seems to go unused. Named after a nickname for Frederick the Great, a small healing aura can be said to imply improved morale due to the leader’s presence.
-Age II
French Huguenots : Sends 4 Coureur des Bois.
The age II variant of the immigrants.
Gunpowder infantry combat : Increases gunpowder infantry damage by 15%
A basic combat upgrade card, not that it does not affect Grenadiers to not make them too powerful in age II when they are easier accessible.
Heavy infantry hit points : Heavy infantry gain +15% health.
Only Musketeers and Grenadiers here, the line-infantry. Mostly to weaken the skirmishers a bit.
Treaty of Dresden:
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Prussian Thrift(II) Allows the Prussians to train units in batches of up to 10, but the cost increases by 50% when they make more than 5 units at a time.
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Miracle of the House of Brandenburg(III) Ships a number of Russian Cossacks.
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Frei Korps(IV) Ships a number of Landwehr soldiers.
The Treaty of Dresden was a peace treaty that confirmed the acquiring of the Silesian region by the Prussians after the second Silesian war.
The Prussian Thrift upgrade allows training in bigger blocks but gives a downside of higher cost when doing so as to not mirror the Japanese too much and the age II special upgrade always has a downside. I made it avoidable however, getting downsides is not such fun gameplay in general.
The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg actually references the second Miracle of the House of Brandenburg when the Tsarina died and her successor quickly sued for peace when the Russians were in a perfect position to defeat Prussia. What’s more he actually gave Frederick command of his forces which Frederick then used to beat back the Austrian army. The new Tsar was murdered not long after and replaced by Catherine the Great, his former wife.
The tech awards Cossacks for I feel that would give the most uniqueness out of the Russian roster to the Prussians, a large number of 1 population cavalry to bolster their elite forces.
The Frei Korps award a number of units that are normally only available by revolting, units like that are not seen often in normal games I think. And this makes them a bit more accessible without having to revolt.
Hand Cavalry Damage: Hand Cavalry gain +15% damage.
Hand Cavalry Hit Points: Hand Cavalry gain +15% hit points.
Only Hand cavalry to reduce the power of Dragoons in the late game.
Der GroĂźe KurfĂĽrst: Gain bonus experience from combat, Musketeers deal bonus damage to mercenaries.
The Great Elector Frederic William primarily relied upon mercenaries during the thirty year’s war which saw the Brandenburg region being decimated. This experience caused him to start building his own standing army and no longer rely upon mercenaries so much. Frederick William attempted to professionalize his soldiers during a time when mercenaries were the norm and actually harshly punished his soldiers when they for example looted or acted aggressive against civilians.
The bonus damage against mercenaries was originally the only effect but seemed a bit too niche. I added the experience gain so the Prussians can keep sending their units shipments when fighting more often. The bonus damage effect is on Musketeers because line infantry but could be on any unit for balance’s sake. Uhlans seem like a good candidate to make them have more of a role in an army that also has Hussars.
-Age III
Dutch Merchants : Sends a bank wagon.
The third immigrant card, probably not very useful to get 1 bank in age III but thematically fun. If proven to strong a lower pop cap for Prussia is something I wouldn’t oppose seeing as the nation had a low local population number historically.
Soldatenkönig : Gain an extra charge on all military unit shipments to a maximum of two.
Frederick William I succeed his father Frederick William and greatly increased the focus on the military. The idea behind the card is too give a way to keep sending those military shipments that is supposed to be their specialism. Might be useless but not all cards should be auto-includes.
Kartoffelbefehl : Farms are 50% cheaper and gain a food trickle when worked by at least 5 settlers.
“The things [potatoes] have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?“
Frederick the Great needed a lot of food to feed his growing nation. While at first the public didn’t care for the potato at first it quickly became a staple in Prussia, The potato yielded more calories per acre than any other alternative at the time. Due to the successful introduction of the potato Frederick is oft referred to as the “potato king”. To this day when visiting his grave people leave potatoes on it.
Frederick also reclaimed a lot of land from the swamps and marshes to create more farm land, the optimal number of settlers on a farm is 5 to promote building more of them to simulate this and create vast swaths of farm land.
Stechschritt : Musketeers gain increased movement speed.
The famous goose-step, could maybe also increase Grenadier speed?
Prussian infantry combat: Gunpowder infantry and Grenadiers gain +15% attack and health.
Cavalry combat: Cavalry gain +15% attack and health.
Basic upgrades for the entire roster.
-Age IV
Polish Partitions: Ships a large number of Polish Settlers.
The Polish partitions added a large number of populace to Prussia, should Poland be added and have some sort of special villager they could replace the standard settlers awarded here.
Lange Kerls: Gives Grenadiers melee damage resistance and increased damage, especially in melee.
An attempt at making the Grenadiers truly elite infantry worthy of their cost.
Iron Ramrod: Musketeers gain an increased rate of fire.
Prussian infantry gained a considerable advantage over their Austrian, French and Russian counterparts because they were issued with new innovative iron ramrods which allowed them to fire two or three times faster without risking the ramrod snapping in the barrel. Could also be a needle gun card but I prefer to avoid post-Napoleonic references if I can.
Military Tradition: Settlers can be produced in batches as though they were military units.
Originally my idea for the basic Prussian bonus, but quickly abandoned to avoid just making better Russians. The ability in card form should come in the late game to not be too strong, but will allow Prussia to quickly increase the power of their economy in the later stages of the game. Prussia will likely attempt to reach the later ages where their powers start to shine.
