Ok so let's start with a little explanation...

I'm not the best player micro wise (not bad) but my strategies are all sound (in my opinion haha) and I'm open to any suggestions...

I mainly play Germans with a few dobbles on the French side

So, Recommended Cards (in some general order):

1. 2 SW's tier 1
2. 3 SW's + 2 Uhlans tier 2
3. 8 xbows + 2 Uhlans in case of rush
4. 5 Uhlans (for raiding or anti xbow stelets)
5. All 700 resource crates in tier 2 (to help age time in case of rush)
6. 10 landsknechts
7. 13 Jaegers
8. 9 Black Riders
9. 1000 Wood
10. Germantown Farmers
11. Factories
12. Guild Artisans (I send before my factories)
13. Palatine Settlements (if you have an extra shipment this is great)

there should be a few cards left to tweak around to your liking... always send 1000 wood instead of a TC

Before I start I should say this BO is loose if need be and can turn into a semi FF or rush if needed(that's why the eco isn't bad for a FF)... wouldn't use it on a rush map like carolina or hispaniola unless you are very practiced at defending rushes and adapting

Ok so this is designed to have a ~6:40 FF (could bring the time down) followed by a hopeful ~7:40 shipment of lands for siege... jaegers if he has musks... BR's for amazing raiding on maps like great lakes etc.

Now in Age 1: Gather food crates first then wood drop a house or 2 (depending on the crates) if you get 400 wood for whatever reason build a TP and a house

que up as many setts as possible a shift hunt herds towards your tc... send 2 SW when you get your shipment and age with 17 setts with the 500 food politician to help get you to fortress faster

Transtition: Move all SW's to gold (5) and que up one sett in your tc... that should be 7 food and 10 (5 wagons) on gold.

Age 2: ship 3 SW's and set your tc to send setts to nearest mine... (should have way more pop but thats ok for now)... collect that food with one SW and the vill from the tc until it's gone and send them to mine... click like mad until fortress and choose The Exiled Prince (faster aging)

This is where you are stuck in FF mode with no stopping now, but if they haven't hit hard by now they probably won't

Transition: put 2 SW's and a sett on wood and drop houses when possible while moving all but 2 vills from food to gold if you already have a shipment ready... as soon as your pop is in the green que as many setts you can leaving one pop for whatever merc you choose (I prefer lands honestly with jaegers being second favorite)

Age 3: now assuming everything went well and you have a shipment: ship your merc as soon as you can and then send 1000 wood after to really get your eco going(what I find is the safest). You have three choices once your merc comes... 1. You can rush with your mercs or 2. Get a rax up and use them as the backbone of a huge fortress assault or 3. turn it into a boom/turtle and triple tc boom

Any of those ways work very well in my experiences... Germans take a lot of micro but it can really pay off and I hope that this strat has helped you guys get a sense of a strong German Merc FF... in addition mercs and WW's can be so deadly but WW's are very expensive... Give any feed back you want, I'm open, and enjoy testing this strat!

Thanks for reading!

-MIW