France Campaign Tactics

[Idaeus]

Hello guys!

I was hoping to get some feedback about my plans that I have for playing France. Its quite a while since I last played so I'm a bit rusty when it comes to settlement names etc.

The plan right now, is to first quickly try to secure rebel provinces to the north and south, attempting to block routes for Spain and Denmark. Then when I'm out of provinces I want to ally with HRE and quickly and utterly destroy Milan, which in my experience usually seems to be the biggest threat to France. (or to ANY European power on that behalf)

Then I plan on invading England, taking Caen (is it Caen?), and then launching a naval attack on the western castle in England. Take England, take Scotland and then after a quick pause, go for Scandinavia where I can grab the mines in Sweden/Norway and then grab Denmark for the northern front against HRE.

This should make sure I have a good economy. I will then launch an attack on Spain/Portugal, making sure all land down to the entrance to the Mediterranean is French. Now the Americas should be available, I will go there and take it over, soon receiving loads of money from the rich lands there.

After grabbing the Americas I will launch a major invasion of HRE and Italy, eventually wiping out the last Catholic factions of Europe and then taking the Papal States. After this I think I will launch a big invasion on Russia.

My empire should now reach From the very south tip of Spain, through Europe all the way to Constantinople, over the dead sea and to the mountains north of Turkey. Having wiped out all Christian factions I will now launch my attacks on The Moors, Turkey, Egypt, Mongols and Timurids. Maybe not all at once but eventually I want to conquer the whole map.

If theres time. . . . .

Oh and to avoid any misunderstandings: I have never conquered the whole world before and this plan is certainly not done to show off my skills or anything. This is just a temporary plan that I will follow best I can. Feedback Please?

[Stildawn]

What level of difficulty??

How are you planning to deal with the Pope with all the killing of christains?

[Mauzeer]

I would suggest to make alliance with HRE immidiately,once u take rebel settlments it would be much harder (at least it was in my short playing experiance)...one question:how many turns do u plan to play ???

Good luck with your plans ,

[Stuntdawg5]

Then I plan on invading England, taking Caen (is it Caen?), and then launching a naval attack on the western castle in England. Take England, take Scotland

Okay, the thing I always do with France is take Caen first. If you can take that city within the first few turns then your homeland is secure. Also, as soon as you take it England always sues for peace.

The main priority for France is to take all the rebel cities it can get its hands on. Skip the close rebel cities and go farther out. Conquer the far ones then come back for the close ones.

The first faction you'll want to defeat is Milan. They are probably the one faction that could give you a fight if they teched up. So defeating them is your #3 priority (after Caen and Rebel cities).

After Milan falls you should have a pretty nice cash flow coming in, use it to build up your castles near Spain and Germany. Once you've built up a few armies I would suggest invading either one or both. Spain, once united, will become a thorn in your side (them and Portugal like invading Rennes). Germany can be a thorn too, but if your allied to them they'll spend most of their time fighting Venice/Denmark/Poland.

If your able to fully capture Iberia (Spain) then I suggest an invasion of England. By now England and Scotland should be making small sea invasions (Not very big) against Bruges and Antwerp. Build up a few stacks and ship em over. Conquer England and Nottingham fast. Once those two provinces fall England's lost it's main source of troops and cash.

After that it's up to you. I like slamming the East and pushing all the way to Bran (Hungarian Castle) and invading south into Italy. But I dunno if your into blitzing or not, so thats up to you.

[Idaeus]

What level of difficulty??

How are you planning to deal with the Pope with all the killing of christains?

I think I will play on N/VH, I will stop when he asks me to of course, it will just take a bit longer time..

I would suggest to make alliance with HRE immidiately,once u take rebel settlments it would be much harder (at least it was in my short playing experiance)...one question:how many turns do u plan to play ???

Good luck with your plans ,

Ok thats very good advice, thanks! I plan on playing until the game ends, which is at like 300 turns right?

Stuntdawg: Ok so now, after the latest patch or something, HRE will stay allied with me right? And not just break the alliance for nothing?

[Stuntdawg5]

Stuntdawg: Ok so now, after the latest patch or something, HRE will stay allied with me right? And not just break the alliance for nothing? :original:

It all depends on your rep. If you keep your reputation above Mixed, then yes, they should keep an alliance with you. Also, like I said in my previous post, they normally are too busy with Denmark, Venice, Poland, and Hungary to worry about you.

But just because they're your allies doesn't mean they won't attack you. Keep at least enough troops for a good defense, because its never 100% sure that they'll not attack you.

[Stildawn]

I will stop when he asks me to of course, it will just take a bit longer time..

Yeah good idea cause an angry pope will make all the christains fight you all the time. I high reckonment sending a diplomate to rome and gift the pope at least 100 bucks per turn the entire game.. then build all the priest you can every single turn. This should keep the pope happy with you and means you can take like 5 territories at a time (even though it says your will be excommed you wont be) then wait like 5 turns and your favour with the pope will bounce back up (cause of the constant gifts)

Other than the pope, its all pure strategy for the rest, especially on normal.

[Idaeus]

Gift him every turn? Sounds expensive.. No honestly it sounds like a good idea! I'll have to try that one out.

[Archus]

how about taking iberia first (its rich) tehn going north to england and scandanavia (which are small, poor settlements)

[Idaeus]

I thought Scandinavia was very rich? Stockholm province has som epretty nice mines..

[Archus]

I thought Scandinavia was very rich? Stockholm province has som epretty nice mines..

Scandanavia is only rich when the settlements are like Minor Cities, they wont be at the start, best to let Denmark have them and level them up a bit before taking them. It saves money.

[MarkPharaoh]

I'm currently playing a French campaign in Darthmod. I started off by instantly allying with HRE and sacking Caen (England tried 2-3 times to retake, but stopped after having to deal with a Danish invasion and Scotland). Then I worked very fast to gobble up as many rebel settlements as possible, keeping Spain out of Bord and Toul and grabbing the majority of them westward on the HRE border. I then focused greatly on Milan and after pushing them to a single settlement, forced to to become a vassal.

Started chipping away against England since they were beating Scotland quickly until the pope kept interfering. Had a crusade against Tunis which I got to first and sacked so I started taking Moorish settlements while stopping Sicilian sieges. Even when I have controlled the entire church (every seat a French Bishop) I still have the pope nagging me about cease hostilities orders. Currently I've taken all of the British Isles, West African, grinding down Iberia, forced Venice to become vassals after taking Venice and a successful Crusade on their last castle, and Denmark on their back heels while using my Spies and Assassins to reign hell on my future targets.

[HopliteLysander]

England doesn't leave me alone at all, I kicked themm out of Caen and made peace, but a few turns later they landed an army and took Bruges...

You are right about Milan though, they are a pain, especially once they get a castle.

[Stildawn]

Haha yeah seems expensive, but you hardly notice 100 bucks every turn lol and I always try and counter that off by selling my maps etc for a per turn gift.

[Nakharar]

I took out Milan First . Quickly take Northern Italy Since Venice is never good with the Pope i can work my way around HRE by taking Burn Dijon which belong to Milan. I took Valencia. I took Bruges an Antwerp and am sailing to take Oslo Stockyholm. spain is likely to attack me and same with Portugal. I plan to ambush them somehow. Anyway for a change the moors have taken Lisbon and Toledo. So only Zaragoza Leon & Pamplona are Spanish or Portugese. I gave money to the pope called a crusade of Corduba and bang relations with the Pope go perfect ive got a great position to attack Spain and Portugal and Moors. With a castle and city in Iberia.

[the_pope_is_god]

nn

[Fishrudder]

ACtually, what he plans on doing worked flawlessly for me, Britannia, then I went south, I ignored scandanavia, since that's never much of a threat, watch out for the Mongols though...

[Viking Prince]

Just a newbie. I was successful with Spain and am now attempting France on VH/VH. I agree with an immediate alliance with HRE. Still need to keep troops to keep HRE honest though. I converted Rheims to a castle to produce armored sargents closer to the future front line.

My question is the behavior of the Moors and Sicilians. They attack and beseige. My diplomat asks for a cease fire and also to receive cash (1200 - 2000 fl). This ATM behavior does not make sense. The English and HRE also gave a one shot cash infusion in exchange for trade and trade with alliance respectively. Similar behavior existed in the Spain game. Just sign me confused and perplexed.

[xxxMoRaVexxx]

My strategy is capture the surrounding rebel sttlements(Bordeux, Dijon, Rennes etc.) after this I immediately focused my resources and troops near the italian peninsula and launching a war with Milan, after destroying Milan I proceded to the southern italian peninsula and making it my financial center for making more armies to proceed to the northern front near scandinavia and capturing all their settlemants(HRE is my ally). Then proceed to spain, that were it ends though coz i forgot if i saved that game or not. But after my war with Milan I have enough money to construct blacksmiths in all my settlements and also voulgiers thats my beast short term campaign for now.

[clandestino]

Bordeaux, Dijon, Metz, Bern, Antwerp, Bruges, Rennes all in first 15 turns, aliances with everybody, that should give you a good starting position without conflict with other factions. Then wait for someone to attack you so you can wage war without the fear of excommunication and losing reputation. First take Milan, Genova, Hamburg and Aarhus cause Milan and Danemark will attack you for sure.