Reichsritter

al diu werlt diu strîtet her
wir sîn an der rehten ger.
reht ist daz er uns gewer

— Walther von der Vogelweide, Palästinalied

Reichsritter: Vital statistics
Unit type	Heavy cavalry
Built/trained at	Stable
Damage and weapon type	Very good, mace and sword Bonus damage against light units
Armour	Steel-skinned Defensive bonus against gunpowder infantry
Production cost	Pop cost: 1 Resource cost: 90 ; 80 Ramp cost: 2 ; 2
Range	Melee Mediocre LOS
Unit move and creation speed	Unit movement speed: rather slow Creation speed: rather slow
Unit HP	Very high
Technological requirements	Foundry: — Upgrade of Knight
Factions available	Holy Roman Empire

Towards the 16th century, Europe experienced what could best be described as a "mini-Industrial Revolution" in which after almost a hiatus of 1,000 years, the production of steel sheets was regained by European societies. Whether this was due to introduction of new methods from Asia or from rediscovery of old methods remains to be discovered, but one thing is certain: it led to the improvement of personal armour. In Germany, there arose a style of armour, the product thereof which was called "Gotischer Plattenpanzer", or "Gothic armour". incorporating ridges and fluting in the armour reminiscent of Gothic architecture (and how it got its name). Gothic armour was revolutionary in its own day: it not only gave comprehensive protection to the wearer, but was flexible enough which granted better mobility to fighters encased in such a suit of armour.

As a result, Reichsrittern are highly prized fighters, albeit having a higher research time due to the highly complicated nature of crafting the armour for such knights. Still, you can be assured of your thalers' worth as these units smash into your opponent with all the hitting force of a sledghammer, and moreso against gunpowder units. As heavy cavalry units go, their strength (and cost) are second only to the Italian mercenary Elmetti, who (surprisingly) have the same armament of the Ritter.

Unit summary

• Unique heavy cavalry unit with faster production time and better armour, but longer research.
• Bulletproof — As the Reichsritter is a unique heavy cavalry unit, it takes reduced damage from non-naval gunpowder units, making it useful for hunting down enemy gunners.