Possibly in a New Season, when the devs find a way to improve the HRE without making them unfair to other civs.
As the HRE is part of the base content of the game, new unique units could not be DLC content, so as with other civs that also got new civs between seasons (Keshik, King, Wynguard, Ghazi Raider), maybe in a future season…maybe.
The detail with adding more units to the HRE is that some of the suggested ones could be units from “New Civs in the future”, such as:
- The Bohemians/Hussites: Hussite War Wagon
- Teutons: Teuton Knight (Which, by the way, already appears in the campaign)
- Castilla: Tercio’s Arquebucier
I would suggest, so that there is no imbalance between civs, but also as a new addition:
MERCENARIES for all civs:
It would function with a “Mercenary Camp” building, the same as the Byzantine one, but obviously without olive oil, but pure gold, to pay for the units. Unlike the Byzantines, civs would only have 3 or 4 mercenary units, and only from civs that were historical allies of them, or from mercenary units that did not necessarily belong to any civ (Same as AoE III). I give some examples:
French:
- Swiss Pikeman (II).- Stronger Spearman, with more range and some armor. Slow, weak aggst crossbow
- Genoese Crossbowman (III).- from the campaign, extra anti-projectile armor, more HP and attack
- Scottish Guard (IV).- Heavy Infantry, who can change weapons to using a bow. Good aggainst melee Inf.
English:
- Border Raider (II).- UU of the Scots, light cavalry, bonus vs villagers, steal cattle.
- Welsh Long Shot Archer (III).- UU from Wales, has more range and attack than its English version, but lacks the stake technique.
- Gallowglass (IV).- Irish UU, heavy infantry with high attack and bonus against heavy units.
Abbasid:
Being the official caliphate, they receive allies from other sultanates,
- Turk Horse Archer.- From the campaign, Selyuk UU (Ottoman variant), has Parthian tactics.
- Beduin Swordrman.- From southern Arabia, Ayyubid mercenary unit, now also Abbasid.
- War Elephant.- From Persia, when it was under its rule, or from the Khwarazmian Empire
Holy Roman Empire:
Imperial Army (new mechanic).- As a specialty of your civ, build the recruiting office (replaces mercenary field), which chooses between 4 of the domains that were part of the HRE to obtain mercenary units for gold:
Circle Troops (IV).- unique technology, you can choose a 2nd group of mercenaries, to have 4 options.
1.- Saxon Recruits (Teutons).-
– Teuton Knight (II).- inf. heavy, from the Teutons, very high armor, very high HP and attack. Very expensive, 2 population.
– Elite Ritterbrüder (IV).- cav. heavy Teutonic, very high armor, very high HP and attack. Very expensive, 2 population.
2.- Bohemian Recruits (Hussites).-
– Flail Militiaman (II).- light infantry with a flail, bonus against heavy units, weak but cheap.
– Hussite War Wagon (IV): Hussites, special siege unit that fires bolts and can be upgraded to fire cannons. Good against cavalry.
3.- Italian/Hansburg Recruits (Genova and Castilla).-
– Early Genoese Crossbowman (II).- from the campaign, extra anti-projectile armor, deployable bowman, more HP and attack than the normal crossbowman.
– Tercio Arquebusier (IV).- UU from Castilla, but recruited in Italy (It’s funny, but true). Cheap but strong gunshot unit, increases attack and movement speed based on the number of nearby harquebusiers up to a maximum of 10 (March of the Third: max:+30 RoF, +15% mov.speed)
4.- Luxemburg Recruits (OftD and Hungary).-
– Hussar (II).- Cab. light with more stats. any special ability (in development)
– Gilded Knight (IV).- Cab. heavy with more stats, it comes with the gilded horses ability that makes it take less damage when charging.
EXTRA: civ variants
Variant civs do not receive mercenaries for certain historical reasons and because they already add something to the base civ: (short historical duration, extra units unlocked otherwise, ayyubid casino). Except of course for certain exceptions, but that could be discussed.
II - NEW UNITS WITHOUT NECESSARILY BEING MECRNARIES:
1.- BLACK RIDERS (IV)
There could be Black Riders, from AOE III, also in its original name: “Schwarze Reiter”. It would be a unit for Imperial Age (which is the unit the HRE lacks, landsknecht is from Castle Age), Here’s how I imagine the unit:
Black Rider (IV): Ranged unit on horseback, attacks with pistols at close range with considerable damage. Bonus against cavalry. Take 50% more ranged damage. Weak against archers, crossbowmen, hand gunners, and spearmen if they hit it.
HP:120, Atk: 23, Bonus: Cav:+23, Range: 3.0, Rate of Fire: 2,125, Arm:0/0, Speed: 1,625, Cost:130f 90g
History: *Schwarze Reiters (i.e. black riders), named after the dark armor they wore. This was a type of cavalry that appeared in Germany (so, HRE) after the decline of the medieval lancers, but specifically since the ############ War (1546-1547), a war between Charles V army and Protestant rebels. After it, the term became a generic name (usually shortened to just repeaters) for German cavalry mercenaries.
Unlike the heavy cavalry and their lances, The black riders adopted pistols as their primary weapons, as well as the maneuver of attacking a few meters from the cavalry, generally at point-blank range, to do the most damage possible. Regarding why they dressed in black, it is because the gun they used was very expensive, and to save money the armor they used was cheap, and to prevent it from rusting it had to be covered with a layer of black.
Source:
- Wikipedia: Schwarze Reiters in RUSSIAN (is the most complete, use google translate).
- Oakeshott E. European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution — 312 p. — [ISBN 0-85115-789-0]
2).- MINISTERIALIS (II)
It is the man-at-arms of the HRE as we know him, but back in single unit. It would have some extra HP bonus, some extra skill or something, and still get its 2 already known unique technologies.
History: Very different from the chivalric code that flourished in several medieval Christian kingdoms, the armies of the Holy Roman Empire of the 11th century were characterized by a disinterest of the nobles to fight. Instead, they hired lower-ranking nobles or ####### with good physical skills to fight for them, usually with the best equipment possible. As a reward for this service, many ministerials went on to form part of an informal group of “low nobility,” with greater privileges than the common servant. Two centuries later, ministerials could number in the tens of thousands, some with sufficient earned capital became independent and began to participate in non-military work, including clergy or administration positions. Already in the 15th century, inspired by Maximilian I, noble chivalry orders began to appear in the HRE; yet the employment of ministerials continued even without referring to them in that way, often because the same were already considered knights in their own right and developed military fraternities worthy of fear.
Source: Osprey - German Medieval Armies 1000-1300/ German Medieval Armies 1300-1500
