German (Civ6)

The German people represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Frederick Barbarossa, under whom their default colors are gray and black; and Ludwig II, under whom their colors are light blue and white.
The Germans' civilization ability is Free Imperial Cities, which allows their cities to build one more beyond normal Population limits. Their unique unit is the U-Boat (which replaces the Submarine), and their unique is the Hansa (which replaces the Industrial Zone).
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 5 towards Rivers
Germany is an extremely versatile civilization which can pursue any victory condition it wants, thanks to the absurd output from the Hansa. Whether by brute force or by fantasies and romanticism, whenever appearing in the game, Germany is a formidable enemy who needs to be addressed.
=== Free Imperial Cities ===
Normally, the maximum number of specialty s you can build in a city ties to its Population: a city with 1 Population can build 1 specialty , and for every 3 Population after that you can build 1 additional specialty . For Germany, you can build 1 more specialty in every situation, so a city with 1 Population can build 2 specialty s, a city with 4 Population can build 3 specialty s, and so on.
This ability is simple, but effective. The effect of an extra slot can be really profound for new cities or ones with low growth rates. Considering that Germany's main victory path is scientific, at just 4 Population, a city can build a Commercial Hub and a Hansa, and either a Campus or a Theater Square on top depending on which leader you are playing, making it incredibly productive despite having very few citizens to work the tiles, and without causing further strain on your . When you settle cities, unless those cities are solely for the purposes of claiming strategic land location or securing strategic resources, make sure you keep them close together to maximize your Hansa output. (See below for specifics.) Little farming space can lead to slow growth, which can easily be compensated by high from multiple-Hansa complexes and the extra slot. s Mimar Sinan and Leonardo da Vinci can be helpful, since you would want to build many Hansas anyway and these two s provide even more bonuses for doing so. Also, make sure there is at least one coastal city where you build a Harbor, since the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is an absolute must in most games due to its power level, but for Germany, the power of that wonder is catapulted to a next level. 
This ability can also be slightly useful when you successfully conquer a city-state or an enemy city. Conquered cities will lose Population, and they can come with some undesirable choices. Having an increased number of slots everywhere means you do not have to wait to build s you actually need.
=== Holy Roman Emperor (Frederick Barbarossa) ===
Frederick's ability is purely supplementary, as it is quite passive and half of it may not be too useful in many situations. He offers two war-focused bonuses, but not necessarily direct buffs towards a domination victory. Through extra flexibility from a Military Policy slot and vast starting territory from the subsumption of city-states, Frederick lays a sound foundation for a strong German empire. 
==== Extra Military Policy slot ====
This ability is useful in the game due to the fact that you can focus purely on military. Having an extra military policy slot in all governments, in particular, is incredibly useful in the early game, as you get to slot both Survey and Discipline, which gives you both a boost to Scout experience and Barbarian battles. Since Scouts are not really that useful to Germany, you should beeline Craftsmanship and slot Agoge. In most cases, you can slot in both cards that boost the of melee, anti-cavalry, ranged units and cavalry units at the same time, giving you a more diverse army. Overall, this ability is supplementary to the busted amount of supplied by Hansas. Later on, considering that Craftsmen is a card that is guaranteed to be run in any Germany game up until Five-Year Plan is unlocked, this ability basically frees up a slot that is guaranteed to be dedicated to this card otherwise. 
==== Extra Combat Strength against city-states ====
Different from the previous aspect of the ability, this one doesn't come into play every game. In other words, how useful this aspect is depends heavily on individual playstyles. Normally, if you conquer city-states, mostly they would be the ones that spawn near you in case you need more room for expansion. However, the ones near you are the ones you meet first and have the most opportunities to cultivate a relationship with using , so you need to consider it carefully. If your neighbor city-states are worthless ones, like Vatican City, Jerusalem, or Preslav, feel free to get rid of them; but if they are powerful and important city-states, this ability almost never sees the light of day unless you are trying to take that city-state away from another civilization. If you are in a game with a lot of civilizations and leaders who rely heavily on city-states, such as Matthias Corvinus, Tamar, or Pericles, this may come in handy, but in most normal games, you don't actively seek out city-states to obliterate just because you have a Combat Strength bonus.
It doesn't work against an opponent's levied units because they no longer count as city-state units.
=== Swan King (Ludwig II) ===
Ludwig II introduces a new dimension to a rather unidimensional and straightforward civilization through the power of wonders, and . He may not be the leader that gets things done, but he makes sure the future generations reap the benefits even from his unfinished projects.
==== Wonders gain Culture adjacency from Districts ====
With the Hansa, Ludwig is a wonder-building leader to rival the best of them. This ability gives his wonders, even unfinished ones, a +2 bonus for every adjacent district, which is an absolute game changer in the right hands. The moment you put down a wonder, it will start generating from nearby s even before you invest the first and it will keep paying dividends until someone else builds it or you finish it yourself. In the current state of the game, generating has become the deciding factor in how powerful a civilization can be, and being able to conjure out of thin air without any investment is just an absurd ability.
Firstly, as discussed below, the Hansa makes Germany into a production powerhouse in the mid-game. Planned correctly, you can get Hansas giving +50 per turn, allowing Germany to build anything after Classical Era in a blink of an eye. Secondly, with Free Imperial Cities, you have extra slots, and the propensity to build non-specialty s like Aqueducts, Dams and Canals to buff up the Hansas means your cities will be filled with s and an unfinished wonder can generate a lot of even without any investment or intention to finish. These two factors make Ludwig a really powerful leader and the superior German leader of the two. 
However, a few things to consider before slapping down wonders everywhere, especially when you have no intention to finish the wonders:
* First, there are a few wonders that the AIs never build. Similarly, on multiplayer games, there are wonders that are so worthless that no one wants to invest into them. If you don't have any intention to immediately finish a wonder, sometimes you will have to anyway. However, with the generous output you have, this shouldn't be a problem.
* Wonders, when placed, remove certain features (Woods, Rainforest, Marsh) and they will not come back if the wonders are removed because they are finished elsewhere. Other features, such as Floodplains and Volcanic Soil, are unremovable, and they will come back if the wonders are removed with any extra yield from previous fertilization the tiles may have received. As for Forest Fires, the disaster fertilizes the tiles, not the features, so the extra yields will still come back even if the feature doesn't. 
Like previously mentioned, this ability is unbelievably broken, and maximizing it is the crux of unlocking Ludwig's potential. Every Wonder not put down is lost and , so, two things to remember:
* After unlocking Apprenticeship, complete your Hansa first and foremost in every new city. Your s have to be completed to grant to adjacent wonders, which rely on the output of the city. Unlike normal Industrial Zones, Hansas can have outstanding starting adjacency even before Aqueducts and Dams, since they also gain a standard adjacency from all resources, even the most ubiquitous bonus resources, such as and . This is even more pronounced when you your Resources pre-game setting is Abundant. Focus on promoting Reyna to reach Contractor, since Germany loves building Commercial Hubs for the Hansa formation anyway. This starting is crucial for you to finish s everywhere in those cities for even more .
* Always try to diversify your s. Most wonders in the game need to be placed next to a specific , so if you ignore less-important s such as Encampments, Entertainment Complexes, Holy Sites or Harbors, you basically let go of valuable that is otherwise free to grab. This is the reason why Ludwig is the much better German leader than Frederick, not only because Ludwig's ability is straight up more powerful, but also the fact that he can make better use of other German tools than Frederick. By the virtue of having Free Imperial City, you are allowed to put down a few unnecessary s, simply to open up more spots for wonders. 
==== Tourism from Culture adjacencies with Castles ====
The second part of Swan King is what can make Ludwig monstrously good. After researching Castles, all adjacencies, from both wonders and Theater Squares also become , providing a push to a fast Cultural Victory to rival the likes of a Kongolese relic rush - but with the ability to pivot to other win conditions far more easily. This means unfinished wonders next to s also provide temporary bonus until they are removed when finished by a different empire. While wonders' adjacencies can only be customized by building more s next to them, you have relatively more freedom when it comes to Theater Squares:
* First, Theater Squares gain a major adjacency bonus from every wonder, Entertainment Complex and Water Park, making wonders and Theater Squares a match made in heaven under Ludwig II, since you gain a lot more and than any other leaders. As for Entertainment Complexes and Water Parks, these two s are often considered to be less valuable so they don't often receive building priorities, but with Germany, you have more slots to play with, allowing these two s to come into play more often. Besides, Germany will most likely dominate the race, recruiting Bi Sheng and Ada Lovelace, when coupled with the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus will give you even more flexibility when it comes to s. 
* Aesthetics, and later, Sports Media policy cards double the adjacency bonuses of all Theater Squares, effectively doubling their output as well. 
* Vilnius, a largely worthless city-state, can be extremely powerful for Ludwig, since it can increase every Theater Square's adjacency bonus by 150% at maximum, synergizing very well with the two policy cards listed above. All you need to do is to reach level 3 as soon as possible, easier said than done but if someone like Gilgamesh is in your game, it is more time than skill. 
* While being available too late in the game and Ludwig can win an incredibly fast cultural victory, Kenzo Tange can provide a final nudge towards the finish line since he synergizes very well with Ludwig, both in terms of Theater Squares and the general propensity to build a lot of s.
While many of the Leader Pass leaders don't sync well with their original civilizations, Germany's natural bonus towards and s make Ludwig II a powerful enemy as soon as they hit Castles. With the of the Hansa and the cultural bonuses of Swan King, Ludwig II can make almost every victory type possible.
=== Hansa ===
Arguably the strongest weapon in the German arsenal, and one of the most revered pieces of unique infrastructure in the game, very similar to its counterpart in Civilization V: Brave New World, the Hansa turns Germany into a powerhouse. In vanilla and Rise and Fall, just try to look for areas rich in resources (strategy, bonus, and/or luxury), settle your cities close together so that you can have a central core of multiple Commercial Hubs and multiple Hansas, and you will be off to a good start. In this respect, the Germans are very similar to the Japanese, since they also love closely-settled cities for high adjacency bonuses, so you can apply the experience you have playing as the Japanese here to get the maximum adjacency bonus out of the Hansa. When founding new cities, be sure to make them in pairs so you can place your Hansas and Commercial Hubs in a diamond position - place two Commercial Hubs near each other with one tile in between them, then place the Hansas in between them, adjacent to each other, to get a huge bonus.
In Gathering Storm, the basic Industrial Zone gets even stronger, since it now receives major adjacency bonuses from Canals, Dams, and Aqueducts, making the Hansa even more of a beast. The basics of this is unchanged, as you still need to prioritize settling in resource-rich areas, but now, with new adjacency rules in place, each Hansa can grant up to 50 if planned properly. Before, you can only get a decent Hansa if your cities are in resource-rich areas (which is not a guarantee), and close to your other cities, but now, even a standalone city in an area with few resources can turn into a bustling center with a bit of city planning.
*The easiest city configuration to achieve is the single Hansa formation, where you have to try your best to flank your Hansa with an Aqueduct, a Commercial and a Dam. In a less likely situation, the Dam can be replaced with a Canal, or in an even less likely situation, both a Dam and a Canal can be fit into this configuration. The point here is to surround the Hansa with as many s that grant major adjacency bonuses as possible. Remember, each around your Hansa also grants 0.5 (rounded down) for being a , so if your Hansa is next to 2 of these 4 s, it will earn at least 5 , not 4. Of course, you should try to minimize the number of standalone cities when playing as Germany, but these cities can be crucial in securing strategic land positions or resources. This is also the only configuration where a Dam or a Canal can fit into the planning, since there is not much you can change about the positioning of these two engineering s, compared to the Aqueduct.
*The most common configuration and also the one that you should attempt to achieve is the double Hansa formation, where a complex is placed between two cities and each Hansa is flanked by at least 3 major-adjacency s. If you manage to build next to each Hansa one more , each of them will have at least 8 as the starting adjacency, and that has not taken into account possible resources nearby. This is also the most versatile configuration of the three introduced, since the locations of these s can be changed slightly. However, always keep this question in mind when planning a double Hansa configuration: "Does each of my Hansa touch at least 3 other major-adjacency s?" If the answer is yes, you are good to go.
*Last but not least, the triple Hansa is the most complex configuration for the Hansa that is not always possible to pull off. In order to build this mega industrial complex, you need a 6-tile triangular space that does not contain anything that can block the placement of s. The most common things to watch out for are luxury resources, strategic resources, and certain terrain features. That's not all, the 3 tiles at the corner of the triangle needs to be able to host an Aqueduct (or a Dam or a Canal, but as mentioned before, these 2 engineering s only complicate the matters further with their placement rules). After finding a spot that satisfies all these conditions, the rest is simple. After constructing the complex itself, add a few Commercial Hubs next to the Hansas for even more , and maybe a few more other s if the location permits. Note that if you have to destroy bonus resources to place down these extra s, it is not worth it, since each bonus resource gives the Hansa a standard bonus while each normal only gives a minor bonus. If pulled off successfully, combined with the Craftsmen policy card, Hansa buildings including the Coal Power Plant, , and Specialists, each of these 3 Hansas in this formation can reach 40 to 50 , depending how many other s and resources there are.
The best thing about this is under Frederick Barbarossa, every form of government receives an extra Military policy slot, which can always be dedicated to run Craftsmen, at least until Five-Year Plan (an Economic policy card) is unlocked. Note that this strategic Industrial Zone planning is not exclusive to Germany, it can be used by any other civilizations, since only the major adjacency bonus from Commercial Hubs is exclusive to the Hansa. Mastering city planning with Germany is a good start when you try to improve your gameplay, especially in a Scientific Victory where is key. Also, highly compact cities allows for efficient counterespionage, where only one Spy is capable of covering everything in a mega complex.
=== U-Boat ===
The U-Boat is a slightly cheaper version of the Submarine with a situational Combat Strength bonus and the ability to reveal invisible units coming slightly earlier than a Destroyer. It is the weakest piece in the German arsenal - not because there's anything inherently wrong with it, but because it replaces a unit that doesn't come into play very often for a number of reasons and fixes none of the problems with this unit. (Read more here.) The U-Boat is a rather underwhelming unit overall, and in the expansions, German players will most likely build it just for the Era Score bonus: Germany doesn't excel at coastal raids like Norway or the Ottomans, and while the U-Boat is strong against other naval units, it is much less effective against cities than the Battleship. However, Letters of Marque helps players produce this unit a bit faster and makes it slightly more potent by giving it a +2 bonus, and it doesn't consume like a standard Submarine, which helps its owner save a bit for other units or to use on .
=== Victory Types ===
As detailed above, Science and Domination Victories are the best choices for Germany. Their potential, ability to support extra s in their cities, and additional Military policy card slot in all governments allow them to build and develop Campuses, Industrial Zones, and Spaceports and complete the Science Victory projects quickly, or else raise an army, navy, and air force filled with well-trained, cutting-edge units. Under Ludwig, while Science and Domination Victories are still possible, it's usually best to leverage your advantages into wonder-building, go exploring to meet other civs, and steamroll them with a lightning-fast Cultural win. Between its leaders, Germany is one of the more versatile and dangerous civs in the game.
=== Counter Strategy ===
Germany, under both Frederick and Ludwig, is only powerful with the Hansa. While their abilities are quite good, they are substantially better with this district, one only unlocked in the Medieval Era. If you spawn close to them, take them out with an early rush if you can - Crossbowmen are a good choice, or if your civ already has early unique units, just steamroll once you have that. If you spawn far away from them, beware. Once Ludwig discovers you, you're in big trouble with his potential, especially if he's managed to go wide. Even late in the game, the rate he can push out wonders with Hansa-driven can make him rival dedicated cultural civs who can't compete with his ability to leverage his industrial base for warfare. Under Frederick, you may have a chance, but with Hansas up and running, plus his bonus to city-state warfare, he can snowball hard too; all he needs to do is capture a nearby city-state, then he can build his Hansa there and go on the offensive. If you meet Germany past the Renaissance, your best bet may just be to suck up so hard you'll lose a lung, and hope that a Diplomatic or (less likely at this stage in the game) Religious Victory is in the cards.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Abelard 	Binga 	Dieter 	Dagmar
Giomar 	Herta 	Egon 	Etta
Hunfried	Johanna 	Ernst 	Frieda
Konrad 	Lorelei 	Falken 	Gretchen
Odbart 	Porsche 	Hanz 	Heidi
Rupert 	Ruomhildi	Jurgen 	Isolde
Tibalt 	Sigfriede	Kiefer 	Nixie
Vermados	Trude 	Klaus 	Tresa
Wilhelm 	Winifred 	Maximilian 	Verina
Wolfric 	Yseult 	Ulrich 	Wanda
== Trivia ==
* The German civilization's symbol is the Iron Cross, which is also used as the symbol of Germany's Bundeswehr.
* The German civilization ability is named after the self-ruling cities that were represented in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.
* Germany is also playable (as the "German Empire") in the War Machine scenario, in which it is led by the German General Staff.
* Some German units have unique looks, such as all Infantry, AT Crews, and Machine Guns wearing World War II-era German M35 helmets and feldgrau uniforms.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 U-Boat in game.jpg|The U-Boat, Germany's unique unit
File:Hansa district screenshot (Civ6).jpg|The Hansa, Germany's unique district
File:German capital.JPG|German capital in Medieval Era
File:German capital in Medieval Era after Gathering Storm update.png|German capital in Medieval Era after Gathering Storm update
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Germany
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* German (Civ6)/War Machine
* German in other games
ru:Германия (Civ6)
fr:Allemagne (Civ6)
Category:German