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Thread: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

  1. #41

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    One comment from me on France - blitzing the GB is too sci-fi for me - I prefer to play with some historial accuracy if I can.

    Anway, I have found that your alliance with Spain can be a very sold & dependable thing if you manage it correctly. I've never had such a solid ally & on the map, it really secures your flank.

    I have followed a continental policy first of building a Napoleonesque land empire. Let the salt-soaked Brits have the sea. Saying that, I have built up trade & a few islands, just ignored North America...

    The French have some good horsies but I'm not a big user of these. Line units are much like everyone elses.

    One thing when moving into Europe is to watch for those sneaky protestants - ensure that you have plenty of priests ready to bring the heretics back to the field - order can be a real problem when they start rumbling about the pope.

    The key is to focus & not try to do everything at once which is why my main focus is on Europe. The elite regiments are good but with just one of each, they don't really matter that much!

    You will soon learn to love the flag when you play them enough.

    Henri
    Kardinal of the Khurch of Kong
    Author of the Official Zombie Handbook - due out in mid-2010
    http://www.ministryofzombies.com/
    http://severedpress.lefora.com/forum...s-and-authors/


  2. #42
    Milios's Avatar Foederatus
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    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    Quote Originally Posted by dead-cat View Post
    I did the Blitzkrieg thing vs. GB, taking all 3 european provinces in the turn i declared war by capturing a port in each province with a brig, loaded with an army each, thus avoiding a war of attrition with the royal navy. as a result, the pirates got Jamaica and the Bahamas, while the USA emerged to attack me immediatly next turn. they'll be history soon.
    Hm. That's strange. The last time I wiped out the british, no new country emerged in the american theatres. By klicking over the variouse provinces the names where like "US-American rebels", "Quebec Rebels" "Huron Rebels" etc. But no new nation.....maybe a bug. (BTW I was playing as spain and only owned the southamerican territories the rest was allmost british until I wiped them out in europe)

  3. #43
    Kilt in the Wind's Avatar Civis
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    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    I've read a lot of comments where people seem to have trouble against the Amerindians. My experience with this is as Spain though so I'm not sure if this is going to help or not.
    Focus on an island-hoping campaign in the Carribean - not only do the AI hate invading islands, but they are also goldmines for plantations!
    Then move into the mainland after you research Ring Bayonet. To do this I always focus on research and in the early game make sure you have Universities EVERYWHERE! In Spainish campaign I have 3 in my home region alone! Once you have Fire by Rank the Amerindians are no longer a problem.
    Before this happens though you still need to hold onto your continental holdings so I would suggest building forts in front of your cities and holding out for as long as possible. By the time you finish conquering the Carribean you should have an army on atleast +2 of +3 experience and agood general to retake your losses and then expand.
    I hope this helps. If you want any clarifications just ask

  4. #44

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    After many tries I have settled on a no holds bar to the bitter end with France... I did finish the game with GB on medium/medium.. now Viva la France on hard/hard... Ten years in and so far not bad... well except I was forced to trade my region in South America to the Cherokee for Georgia.... Had a huge British stack about to attack, I knew I'd loose it in any case.

    I then proceeded north from Georgia and south from Maine, stopped cold in New England but up to Maryland now... I still haven't completed the mission, haven't even thought about the Iroquois, except some garrisons in Canada. Death to GB first, oh and defense of the homeland from that steamroller known as Prussia.

    I dropped a stack in England and have been raiding and just doing as much damage as possible without actually taking it yet... Can't afford the rebellions once I do take it. Prussia is getting to close and investing more capital in GB could cost me on the Mainland. I was thinking about taking Ireland, then retreating and letting the Irish finish off England for me while I deal with the Prussians and finish off the English colonies in North America. I know as soon as I take London it will be endless rebellions in that region and the Prussians are already looking mighty.

    Any thoughts?

  5. #45
    Ordinarius
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    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    The rebellions wouldn't be that bad - as long as you keep a half stack in London you should be able to wipe the floor with whatever rebels pop up, and you could tax them all the while too, getting a good return on your army investment there.

  6. #46

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    Well that is what save is for... try and see what happens.. as soon as my roommate gets off ....uh his computer... for some reason my laptop doesn't like to see DVDs so was never able to load till I figure out the problem --- I want to blame vistas but the jury is still out... Alright tonight take London and go from there.... but those Prussians are SCARY.... they have broken through my buffer states and my forces on the mainland are pathetic... economy still not gear up for a major ground war, was hoping to wrestle away the 13 colonies before WWI started... but perhaps with the British isles I might just be able to tangle with the Hun...

  7. #47

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    I started out taking the United Providences for the trading ports and becase they declared war with Spain. I was hoping this would keep Spain happy but, after I took all of America except the Inuits in the deep North, Spain started to gather an army just inside my southern border. After watching this army grow to two stacks for about 12 turns I went down and flushed then out but now I dont know what to do about Spain. Conquer Spain and start a campaign on all of the western world?

  8. #48

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    i find that tryin to take east europe is quite hard early on as all the minor german states declare war on u and savoy often makes raids on your southern france buildings so i find the best tactic is to build one or two strong armies in europe and place them in or build forts, i then concentrate on maxismisng my superiority in the americas! i also find that if u capture dutch guyana u can trade all ur carribean possesions ie dutch and french guyana and the windward islands for flanders and a gd tech =D
    'friendly fire, isnt'

  9. #49
    Prince of Darkness's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    Blitzing GB seems the only way for France to win in my campaigns. If I don't mass-spawn line infantry and strike Ireland and England from the same time, the British navy will become too large for you to defend and you will have to face massive amount of Brit landings.
    WARNING:
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    Please, please, PLEASE, god... If you give us back Freddie Mercury, we will not only give you Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus... We will give you the whole disney realitystarcrew!!!
    And if you're wondering if it's worth to give up your favourite artist, then we'll throw Jay Z and Lady Gaga in the pool too

  10. #50
    Civis
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    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    As France I focus on expanding into germany during the first decade. If I have westphilia and hannover without starting a war with prussia, im doing it right. I also take out pirates (I always take out pirates) and reinforce new france slightly. This is quite alot, but the main thing is to take hannover, westphilia, wuttumburg, all the German areas. They are highly industrialized and give around 5000 a turn.

  11. #51

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    I just started a campaign with France to play when I don't want to play my Ottoman campaign. I'm only a few turns in right now, but my first priorities will be to take out the United Provinces and the Iroquois, as I'm at war with both. Once I've taken the Iroquois lands it should be little trouble to conquer the remaining territories I need to gain control of Louisiana. If I'm at war with the British by then the next order of business will be driving them from the Americas and invading Britain itself. I'll try and maintain trade and friendly relations with the smaller German states so I don't have to recruit as many armies as I normally do to deal with them, and hopefully be able to focus more on trade and my navy. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it goes though.

  12. #52

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    Just started a France campaign, and Ive come to the conclusion that bumrush GB is the way to go. I play as GB a lot, and I've always been struck by how poorly defended it is as the start of the game. Build some Regiments Etrangers in Paris, and form two stacks, one strikes London and the other Ireland/Scotland. GB is so lightly defended at the start that I conquered London by turn 3 on H/H...they have literally like one or two line infantry units, and if you bring your entire military to bear its hardly a fair fight.

  13. #53

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    I did the same. It certainly makes life alot easier. It really altered the latter stages of the campaign as well. It created a real sense of "friendly" nations in the long run. My campaign actually changed to a rather non-fighting one and more into a prestige campaign around the 30 turn mark. By the time the French Revolution occured everyone was on friendly terms and the only nation to declare war on me was Austria, and they're so weak in most of my campaigns its comical. They cant even hold onto Vienna and they're going to declare? pfft..

    However, one side effect I had was Maratha just completely went ape-**** tech, expansion, aggression wise and even though I didnt complete the campaign (due to hatred of attacking walled cities constantly) they were about as unstopable and game victory conditions altering as could ever be expected. By the time I got to Ceylon, after I captured Amsterdam, Maratha was a complete powerhouse of potentionally 20 turns to overcome size-strength.


    Otherwise though. France is a fun campaign and presents interesting challenges usually, regardless of whether you go blitz on Britian or not.

  14. #54

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    Just finished a successful French Campaign using my own in house limitations. I called this variant of the standard game:

    Let them eat cake
    My house rules were:
    1. The nobility of France must never pay any taxes.
    2. The Bourbon dynasty must retain the throne of France.
    3. France must be the most prestigious nation in the world by the end of the campaign.
    4. All conditions of the Long Campaign must be met.
    5. France may not occupy more than one trade port per trade theatre.
    6. A transport ship may only transport one French army unit at a time (excluding Generals)
    7. Nobody must ever mention custard.


    The path to my success.
    This was the general strategy I adopted for this successful campaign.
    1. First priority was to boost the economy of metropolitan France, all other French colonies were left to struggle with whatever they started with.
    2. A ruthless culling and replacement of ministers was put into effect to maximise the quality of the kingdoms government. (Can't do anything about the mad King of course, but he eventually dies)
    3. Only once France was on a sound economic footing, did money get released for the American colonies, I was prepared to lose colonies early in the game.
    4. Once funds are available begin investing in strengthening the navy and gaining naval dominance, (not easy, but alliance with Spain can help, use their Galleon to support your fleets in early battles)
    5. Capture as many enemy ships as possible and add them to your fleets.
    6. Once trade theatres are free from threats start a trading empire, within the limits set by the house rules.
    7. Begin to make your claim to the America's, trying to limit enemies to one or two at once. Do not interfere with the pirates until you no longer need them to distract opposing naval domination in the Caribbean and trade theatres.
    8. Once the America's are speaking French, and France rules the waves, go for India. Avoid heavy conflict in Europe, you have no goals in that area so just defend your borders and make allies of buffer states.
    9. When the revolution happens (and it always does) crush it utterly and totally.
    10. Enjoy the rewards of absolute power, you deserve them.
    11. Ban the preparation or consumption of custard in all French dominions.

  15. #55

    Default Re: France, Campaign thoughts and tips

    Quote Originally Posted by Didz View Post
    1. When the revolution happens (and it always does) crush it utterly and totally.
    The people are sovereign, not inbred toffs, sir!

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