Would be cool to give the Neftenya animation to Prussian Needle now that they will have unique skin. Not exaclty accurate, but more than the front loading rifle reloading animation that they have now.
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I’d love to see this, maybe Voltigeurs should also get that animations as their Minié rifles were retooled to breach loaders after the Prussians adopted the Dryse breach loader
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i think giving the needle gunner breachloader animations is great to reflect the higher attackrate,
but i wouldnt give it to the voltigeurs, sice they have normal attack speed and the skin is a napoleonic one
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At least from the old game, if you try to change the anim with an upgrade, the entire game could desynch. You’d need a completely separate set of attack actions for it to work. Which not impossible, but rather unintuitive codewise.
The out-of-sync problem is a real problem for modder, and i think it’s easy for the developers to do it if they want to. Add a “submodel” directly, and then set the action, If everyone’s version is the same, there won’t be any problems.
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I also thought it would be great to add a unique animation to the Prussian Needle rifleman. When I saw and tested this unit, I got quite excited (in general, I’m excited about all the unique skins). You can even see the bolt action on the rifle.
The Dreyse needle gun fits perfectly into the role of a skirmisher weapon in AoE 3. It perfectly matches its gameplay mechanics and its historical reference since, during the timeframe of AoE 3, it was a “complex and fragile” weapon (which is why countries like France and the United Kingdom rejected this weapon and opted for the “Minié” musket). However, it is an instrument closely linked to German unification, serving in “urban combat” because it gave the user the freedom to fire from a prone position.
I want to clarify that I’m not German, but I love history, and I really enjoy it when gameplay mechanics and historical references fit together like gears.
As an additional historical fact, this weapon revolutionized military tactics in the 19th century, making a significant technological difference in the Austro-Prussian War and later laying the “foundations of industrial warfare” in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, where both sides used bolt-action rifles as standard infantry weapons (highlighting the ineffectiveness of cavalry).
PS: The pickelhaube is so cool and historically accurate!
PS2: It may sound strange, but the reason I first researched the Franco-Prussian War (many years ago) was to try to understand why the German skirmishers in AoE 3 were named “fusilero aguja” (needle rifleman) in Spanish. That’s when I discovered the innovation these rifles brought to modern warfare 
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Hello everyone, I have been testing the German civilization in AoE 3 again, and I have this suggestion:
The Prussian Needle Gun should have different resistances depending on the stance (range or melee, like the Desert Warrior).
- Gameplay justification: A) Germans in AoE 3 do not have Musketeers, relying on infantry or cavalry to defend against cavalry units. B) An animation of “fix bayonet” could be added, which would take a few seconds for balance purposes (and it would look great!). C) The Germans currently have access to the Landwehr, which functions as a skirmisher (and to be honest, I think having two types of rifle-armed skirmishers is redundant). D) The Prussian Needle rifleman in melee attack mode would have an attack multiplier against cavalry. Repeat again, it is not a unit that completely replaces the Musketeer (as the Musketeer has a lower cost and higher HP), but it would make them less vulnerable to cavalry charges.
- Historical justification: It is strange that a civilization so prominent in the Napoleonic Wars does not have a musketeer unit. I understand it was for gameplay reasons, as the Germans are a civilization that maintains the essence of countering units in AoM (Archer>Infantry>Cavalry>Archer). However, what I currently appreciate is the inclusion of the Dreyse Needle Gun, which revolutionized military strategies in the 19th century. While Napoleon perfected military tactics with smoothbore muskets and the Minié-type rifle-muskets provided more accuracy and range to soldiers, it was not until the invention of the Dreyse Needle Gun that military tactics had to be modified.
Source of the meme, I highly recommend this channel
As I mentioned earlier, within the timeframe of AoE 3, the Dreyse needle gun fits perfectly as a skirmisher weapon since its numbers were limited within the German army. However, by the mid-1860s, its usage became more common among regular troops, granting the Prussian army a significant technological advantage over other adversaries (being a widely used weapon during the German unification). As a fun fact, I’ll leave you with this excerpt from the Danish TV series 1864:
This series narrates the Second Schleswig War from the Danish perspective, for history lovers I also leave this link where a breakdown of the weapons used is made.
- Personal Motivation: The German civilization was one of the ones I played the most in AoE 3 because it had a similar gameplay to AoM and allowed me to use armies of Doppelsoldners. However, I always felt uncomfortable that they didn’t have a line of musketeers. Of course, this is just my opinion, but I would like to see the Prussian Needle Gun being more versatile. I must clarify that I don’t know how this would alter gameplay and balance (since it would be a Royal Guard unit different from the others), but I wanted to express my opinion, and I hope I haven’t offended anyone with my passion for history
If all civs get all units, bye asymetrical design, one charm of aoe3.
Germans doesnt have musks, but landwehrs works like a less specialized skirm that deals more damage to cav in ranged mode. They still have doppels, war wagons and the new ranged cav.
I agree with you, that’s why I wrote this: