If you play the horsemen you just get the pikes you raid through really nicely. Even if your opponent goes for the French commandery, it's actually surprising how effective HRE horsemen become with the Meinwerk backing.

You have to burn Knights Templar docks super hard, like wildfire mode hard because they are not docks. They're housing ballistas. They are infinitely more tanky and that's why you have to pay an insane amount.

Normally Templar brothers, you can kind of trade them against standard knights. Adding the extra plus two armor, it's not a great exchange anymore.

Against Chevalier, HRE's all pikes from Meinwerk are strong because KT won't have melee armor techs. The beauty of Meinwerk is not just the cheapness of the upgrades, it's the speed of them as well.

There are ways you can beat Knights Templar with archers, but it only works if you are doing it right at the start with Meinwerk. The logic being you have blacksmith advantage. Later, the advantage disappears.