The problem with Teutonic Knights.

In this game, speed is king.

Take the Teutonic Knight. On the face, an absurdly powerful unit. Able to take down far more expensive melee enemies like Paladins, despite costing less and having less health.

And yet, rarely built. Why?

It all comes down to risk.

If you make an army of Paladins or Cavalry Archers, you're investing a lot of gold, yes, but you know one thing; you're faster than all your counters. If things go poorly, you can most likely escape largely intact. And that means that you can afford to let things go poorly in the first place.

If your Cavalry Archers find themselves up against an army of Halbs and Skirms, seemingly their hard counters, all they have to do is run away. Those units are still useful, just not right now. When you return with a counter for their trash units, they're right back into the game again.

Now consider what happens when you send in a mass of Teutonic Knights, only to find them up against archers, their hard counter? What can you do?

You can't attack; they'll kite you until you die. You can't run; they're faster than you and will follow you until you die.

You're just screwed.

A smart player, seeing this potential for absolute failure, will never put themselves into that position of potential failure to begin with. They'll just never build them.

This is also why, of the unique melee units, you mainly see the ones that have greater speed. Examples include: Berserks, Woad Raiders, Huskarls, Gbetos, Shotel Warriors, Condotierros, and Karambit Warriors.

There are only three remaining other infantry unique units: Samurai, Kamayuk, and Jaguar Warriors. All of which are units designed with a

Some well-meaning people have suggested giving units like the Teutonic Knight more pierce armor would be a solution to this problem, but that wouldn't fix the fundamental issue. Assuming they still have the same inability to escape their counters, they'll still be beaten in the same ways. That same risk still exists. Only at the point where they become completely invulnerable to archer fire does that risk disappear, and at that point, the unit becomes completely overpowered.

But the Teutonic Knight still needs some way to mitigate that risk! Otherwise you're essentially gambling every time you send any into combat. They need some way to escape.

A way like...a tower.

Teuton towers are perfectly designed for defense. They hold twice as many units. Infantry can fire while inside them. They heal six times faster. They get Murder Holes for free. You just need some way to get the Teutonic Knights to them.

You can't send villagers in far enough to build them. Villagers are weak to the same things Teutonic Knights are weak to, and Teutonic Knights can't defend against those things. Your net result will be dead villagers and a wasted tower foundation.

But what if the Teutonic Knights themselves could build the towers?

Suddenly they have a way to run away. Suddenly that risk becomes much more mitigated. Suddenly you can actually use those heavily buffed Teuton towers in an offensive way.

In a single stroke you can make Teutonic Knights an investment that might actually be worth making, and a legitimate threat to your enemies.

It even has a solid historical justification: during the Crusades, the Teutonic Knights built many fortifications as they worked their way towards Jerusalem.