Doppelsoldner

The Doppelsoldner (correct German: Doppelsöldner; both singular and plural) is an expensive and powerful melee unit unique to the Germans in Age of Empires III.

Overview
The Doppelsoldner's potential is incredible. Doppelsoldners wield great two-handed swords, "Zweihänder" (German for 'two-handed sword), dealing area damage. They are good against most hand infantry, light infantry, buildings, and cavalry, but are vulnerable to artillery. Doppelsoldners have high siege damage and can destroy buildings within seconds in large numbers. Doppelsoldners are available from the Barracks once the Colonial Age is reached.

An interesting consideration for the Doppelsoldner is that although they are indeed available in the Colonial Age, they are insanely expensive for the Colonial Age. They are, however, arguably the best unit available to any country in that Age. On the other hand, Doppelsoldners are probably too expensive to Rush with, and therefore if the Germans do a Rush they are better off using Crossbows. A unit similar to the Doppelsoldner is the Japanese Samurai. The Doppelsoldner has slightly less attack, but better multipliers against cavalry. Doppelsoldners' attack can be pushed to 56, and their siege attack to 168. Their hit points can be upgraded to 690, making them able to kill even Cuirassiers and Spahis with relative ease, although then their speed is significantly decreased to 3 (an effect of the Solingen Steel shipment), instead of the starting 4.5. Using Tilly's Discipline as well as the speed upgrade from the Advanced Arsenal their speed can be brought back to 4.35. Alternatively one could leave away the Solingen Steel card, giving them 115 less hitpoints and 10 less damage compared to the above 56 and 690, but having a 5.85 speed. With the Solingen Steel card, they are like melee tanks.

Home City cards
As the Doppelsoldner is exclusive to the Germans, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here. {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of related Home City cards
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

Germans

 * }

History
"Doppelsoldners were a group of specialized Landsknechts, whose role was to charge lines of pike and halberds. They were actually mercenaries that fought under Maximilian II. They were armed with halberds, arquebuses, and long two-handed swords (zweihanders). They stood in the front ranks and earned double the normal pay (and their name) from the privilege of breaking up ranks of pike. Dress in this era was flamboyant, and Doppelsoldners are depicted with striped leggings, puffy sleeves (for mobility), large or elaborately plumed hats, and richly slashed and decorated uniforms."

Trivia

 * "Doppelsöldner" (lit. "double-mercenary") is a near-universal trademark of the Landsknecht back in the days to refer to their more experienced vanguards armed with halberd and zweihänder.
 * Therefore, to be historically accurate, a trainable front-line grunt should be named Landsknecht; whereas the mercenary vanguard with higher stats the Doppelsöldner proper.
 * The term "Doppelsoldner" is not applied at all to any unaffiliated troops of the same description without the mercenary company declaring hostility towards them on grounds of imitation.
 * In other words, not all Landsknecht soldiers are doppelsoldners, but all doppelsoldners are Landsknechts.
 * Technically, the Doppelsoldner and the Landsknecht are one and the same, but each uses its own combat scripts and as such behave differently during gameplay.
 * On the Doppelsoldner's profile image the smaller set of handguards is near the zweihänder's handle. In real life, the smaller guards are the farthest away from the handle, and are located in the ricasso, away from the swordsman's hands.