In terms of gameplay Landsknechts do a large amount of damage in melee combat, capable of defeating most hand infantry and cavalry units and can raze buildings quickly. However, as heavy infantry, they are vulnerable to Skirmishers and artillery.
They fulfill a similar role to the Swiss Pikeman and deal a similar amount of anti-cavalry and siege damage. Landsknechts are slower and more durable, but also cost 1 more population.
All European civilizations can pick The Mercenary Contractor for aging up to the Imperial Age, and he will improve mercenaries (including the Landsknecht) by increasing their hit points and attack by 50%.
Special abilities[]
Oberhau (automatically activated when attacking with a cooldown of 15 seconds): The Landsknecht performs a heavy zweihander strike from above that does the same damage of their normal hand attack, but with an AOE of 2.
Upgrades[]
The Landsknecht is automatically upgraded in the Fortress Age.*
Infantry and shock infantry train time -40% (also +2 Uhlans for the Germans; +1 Villager for the Indians)
Outlaw Combat
Outlaws and mercenaries get +15% hit points and attack (also upgrades Filibusters to Veteran for Baja California; costs 750 coin for Baja California, Hungary, and Revolutionary Mexicans)
"Liberation March" is available to the Mexicans and Spanish.
"Fencing School" is available to the Europeans (except the French, Maltese, Ottomans, and Spanish) and Indians.
Mercenaries get +15% hit points and attack; +3 Uhlans
10
Mercenary Camps
Upgrades Tavern into Mercenary Camp which cost -50%, build time -25%, build bounty and hit points -50%, auto gather coin -60%, build limit +3, and offer a fixed assortment of German mercenaries: Landsknechts, Jaegers, Giant Grenadiers, Black Riders, Pandours; +3 Uhlans
Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +10% speed, +20 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%; Banner army train time -10%
Ships 3 Landsknechts; Landsknechts available at military buildings; costs 300 coin
German Mercenary Contracts
Mercenaries get +20% hit points and attack; Jaegers and Landsknechts can be trained at Barracks and Galleons; Black Riders can be trained at Stables and Galleons
The General, Minutemen, and heavy infantry get +15% hit points and attack
Poker
Ships 13 random mercenaries; up to 3 random mercenaries available at Saloon; costs 3,500 coin
Indiana Mobilization
Ships 1 Carbine Cavalry for each shipment sent so far this game including this one; unit train time (except Heavy Cannons), technology research time, and age-up time -10%; costs 250 food, 250 wood
With update 13.58326, Landsknechts cost 2 population, have 345 hit points, 43 hand damage, and 58 siege damage. In the Fortress Age, they are automatically upgraded to get 430 hit points, 54 hand damage, and 72 siege damage.
With update 14.43676, Marauding Landsknecht hit points were changed from 350 to 300, speed from 6.0 to 7.0, and kill bounty from 24 xp to 22.
In-game dialogue[]
The Landsknecht, similar to the units of the Germans, speaks modern Standard German with a standard theater pronunciation ("Bühnendeutsch"), although this does not represent the form of German spoken in the Age of Empires III timeframe. The dialogue file are the same as for the Jaeger, but with the pitch raised slightly.
Select 1Ja? - Yes?
Select 2Bereit - Ready
Select 3Auftrag? - Order?
Move 1Jawohl - Yes
Move 2Verstanden - Understood
Move 3Wird erledigt - It will be done
Attack 1Angriff! - Attack!
Attack 2In den Kampf! - Into the fight!
Attack 3Jawohl! - Yes!
Trivia[]
The German plural is Landsknechte.
The historical Landsknecht company also fielded large amounts of pikemen and arquebusiers in addition to the doppelsoldner, which is used as its representative unit in the game. The Landsknecht doppelsoldner is considered a separate unit from the German unique unit of the same description, however, and in terms of performance it is the rough equivalent of a Halberdier while its standard counterpart behaves similarly to a Ronin.
Historically, the Doppelsoldners were more experienced, doubly-paid vanguards among the Landsknechts.
Historically, the Landsknecht was a bitter rival of the mercenary corps of Switzerland (Reisläufer), in large part due to them being considered imitators of their counterpart, yet became increasingly popular upon introduction to the point of supplanting the Swiss all but entirely in service. The two forces were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Great Italian Wars, where the results of their many clashes were often horrific.
The Landsknecht's outfit appears to be based on the Osprey published book "The Landsknechts".
In the game files there is a mentioning of a unit called "Landsknecht Halberdier" but it didn't make it to the final version of the game.
History[]
“
Regiments of Landsknechts (German for "land knights," or "servants of the land") were formed by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. They began as top-notch pikemen, but integrated other weapons, including the new technologies and weapons beginning to appear in the late Renaissance. Doppelsoldners swung great two-handed swords and other Landsknechts were early adopters of the new-fangled arquebus, an early musket. Landsknechts were known for their outlandish and elaborate clothing. They wore striped leggings, broad-brimmed hats with large plumes, puffy sleeves, and elaborately slashed doublets.
”
Gallery[]
An in-game Landsknecht
The Landsknecht's history portrait
A historical illustration of Landsknechts from the 16th century