Tips for France

Hey guys. Enjoyed my first campaigns as Russia and Poland. I think I want to give France a try. Any tips? I have yet to really start. I have looked at the map and it seems i have 3-4 small stacks spread out Europe. Is it best to combine them for a couple full stacks?

Thanks for any help with the 'crappos'!

Originally Posted by gord96

Hey guys. Enjoyed my first campaigns as Russia and Poland. I think I want to give France a try. Any tips? I have yet to really start. I have looked at the map and it seems i have 3-4 small stacks spread out Europe. Is it best to combine them for a couple full stacks?

Thanks for any help with the 'crappos'!

Well I kept those 4 stack armies in Alssace (or whatever) and decided to employ an expand the economy policy, this includes building merchantmen and going for the ivory/spice nodes. Feel free to raise a few more line regiments or light regiments for the 4 stacks around Napoleon, dont forget to keep ur Italian army under Massena on the defensive. Empty your towns of all troops not militia or national guard to reinforce ur armies in the field. In my campaign these meassures led to Austria taking Wurtenburg and Russia taking Bavaria. This in turn led to my counter-offensive by 3 of the 4 stack armies that liberated both Wurtenburg and Bavaria. Making those countries a better deal for the french than just allies. The trade nodes give you a tremendous cash boost.

Thats all i can say for the time being havent gotten farther into the campaign, due to computer trouble

thanks man. makes sense. looking forward to giving it a go.

As was mentioned on another thread, there's a chance that Britain will invade. Evidently not a very good chance, or others would be reporting it more often. It probably isn't a good strategy to try to defend against this. I think the pure blitz strategy ala Altman's report, along with developing trade nodes, does seem like the way to go. I wouldn't put too much money into infrastructure development. Unfortunately this has the side effect of making the game very short - you've got to win quickly if you're not improving infrastructure**. Throw out your house rules re: blitzing.

** - though perhaps trade-node expansion will allow France to take a more measured "historical" pace? Of course, France historically attacked both Austria and Prussia very early, but they didn't get around to Russia until 1812.

Originally Posted by Randall Turner

As was mentioned on another thread, there's a chance that Britain will invade. Evidently not a very good chance, or others would be reporting it more often. It probably isn't a good strategy to try to defend against this. I think the pure blitz strategy ala Altman's report, along with developing trade nodes, does seem like the way to go. I wouldn't put too much money into infrastructure development. Unfortunately this has the side effect of making the game very short - you've got to win quickly if you're not improving infrastructure**. Throw out your house rules re: blitzing.

** - though perhaps trade-node expansion will allow France to take a more measured "historical" pace? Of course, France historically attacked both Austria and Prussia very early, but they didn't get around to Russia until 1812.

Ive won three campaigns now as France. Britain did invade on all three repeatedly between late 1806 through 1807.

On One they invaded and recaptured Gibraltar after I sent an early expeditionary force to cap it.
On the second two they repeatedly invaded Hanover slowing my movement east and on the third they invaded Brittany twice and Normandy once all three within 6 months.

Im of the same belief on infrastructure, its not until I'm about 65% to campaign victory that I start on it. The game almost seems scripted to force or encourage France to take an early blitzkrieg approach.

Moved to Gameplay and Strategy Discussion.

with the first 3 armies i striked for Vienna and kept momentum untill Moscow.

You can do a modified Blitz strategy that I like to call the Nation Building Approach.

Here's the short: Liberate any nation that can be liberated. Loot cities that can't be liberated and then pawn them off to your protectorates by paying them a small sum (usually not more than a quarter of the money you looted).


Here's the Long:

In my campaign I started out by marching all of my armies to Vienna, taking it and looting it. Then I left Vienna (no garrison) and headed north for Saxony. I "liberated" Saxony from their tyrannous oppressors and got them to agree to take war torn Vienna for $3000. Then I marched on Berlin, took it, and burned it straight to ground taking a hefty sum of cash in the process. Again, I got my Saxon puppets to take this wasteland by paying them a small fee. I then marched straight to Warsaw and liberated Poland. Then I split my Army up into two, one commanded by Napoleon and the other by Murat. Napoleon crushed the rest of Prussia, looting its cities and then ceding them to Poland and Saxony. Murat annihilated the remains of Austria, liberating Hungary and dividing up the remaining territories between it and Saxony.

In the meantime I ran a third campaign with Messna in northern Italy. I stripped Austria of its possessions there and created an Italian state. Then when Sicily and Naples went to war with me I ran down there and crushed them along with the Papal States. I looted all of those cities and paid the Italians to take them off my hands.

The money I obtained through looting and creating massive protectorates (they pay a portion of their income to you) enabled me to build up reinforcing armies, large merchant and military navies, and a very solid infrastructure in France. I even recruited a full stack in Paris to prevent any English machinations. The protectorates themselves were not at war with the coalition so they acted as a nice buffer. Frequent technology and cash handouts to the protectorates ensured their continued subservience.

My next move was to bring Napoleon home and use the Grand Armee to subjugate the remaining "non-protectorate" German States. This included former allies, so the diplomacy got a little tricky. If you dishonor too many treaties your protectorates will turn against you. A nifty trick I found to this was to not declare war on someone, but rather find another faction fighting them and "Join Wars" with that faction. Declaring war this way doesn't affect your diplomatic standing with anyone.

After the remaining German states were wrested under my influence I turned my attention to Great Britain and Russia. The rest is history (well actually the complete opposite of history). With a strong backing of subordinates I was able to build Europe's best economy, had the biggest and most experienced military, and the richest trade network.

Now I'm not sure what constitutes a blitz, or just how fast one has to dominate everything to call their strategy blitzing, but... I had all this in about 50-55 turns. The game was over by turn 71. The settings were VH/VH. There was never a bump in the road, I even gave Russia 50,000 just before taking Moscow to get the achievement. (Didn't get it though...maybe it's only for MP I don't know...)...

Originally Posted by Brewing In Brooklyn

You can do a modified Blitz strategy that I like to call the Nation Building Approach.

Here's the short: Liberate any nation that can be liberated. Loot cities that can't be liberated and then pawn them off to your protectorates by paying them a small sum (usually not more than a quarter of the money you looted).


Here's the Long:

In my campaign I started out by marching all of my armies to Vienna, taking it and looting it. Then I left Vienna (no garrison) and headed north for Saxony. I "liberated" Saxony from their tyrannous oppressors and got them to agree to take war torn Vienna for $3000. Then I marched on Berlin, took it, and burned it straight to ground taking a hefty sum of cash in the process. Again, I got my Saxon puppets to take this wasteland by paying them a small fee. I then marched straight to Warsaw and liberated Poland. Then I split my Army up into two, one commanded by Napoleon and the other by Murat. Napoleon crushed the rest of Prussia, looting its cities and then ceding them to Poland and Saxony. Murat annihilated the remains of Austria, liberating Hungary and dividing up the remaining territories between it and Saxony.

In the meantime I ran a third campaign with Messna in northern Italy. I stripped Austria of its possessions there and created an Italian state. Then when Sicily and Naples went to war with me I ran down there and crushed them along with the Papal States. I looted all of those cities and paid the Italians to take them off my hands.

The money I obtained through looting and creating massive protectorates (they pay a portion of their income to you) enabled me to build up reinforcing armies, large merchant and military navies, and a very solid infrastructure in France. I even recruited a full stack in Paris to prevent any English machinations. The protectorates themselves were not at war with the coalition so they acted as a nice buffer. Frequent technology and cash handouts to the protectorates ensured their continued subservience.

My next move was to bring Napoleon home and use the Grand Armee to subjugate the remaining "non-protectorate" German States. This included former allies, so the diplomacy got a little tricky. If you dishonor too many treaties your protectorates will turn against you. A nifty trick I found to this was to not declare war on someone, but rather find another faction fighting them and "Join Wars" with that faction. Declaring war this way doesn't affect your diplomatic standing with anyone.

After the remaining German states were wrested under my influence I turned my attention to Great Britain and Russia. The rest is history (well actually the complete opposite of history). With a strong backing of subordinates I was able to build Europe's best economy, had the biggest and most experienced military, and the richest trade network.

Now I'm not sure what constitutes a blitz, or just how fast one has to dominate everything to call their strategy blitzing, but... I had all this in about 50-55 turns. The game was over by turn 71. The settings were VH/VH. There was never a bump in the road, I even gave Russia 50,000 just before taking Moscow to get the achievement. (Didn't get it though...maybe it's only for MP I don't know...)...

I did this it worked fantastically.

One thing I forgot to mention. When Britain lands in Hanover, just give Hanover to Saxony. Wellington wont bother you after that.

...Oh and the icing on the cake was that I had a 100% approval rating when I won. Didn't get that achievement either though!!!

Cbf reading other post so i repeat anyone here im sorry just do it like the Did irl take italy then Austria set up a good boarder against Russia while taking Prussia and try the kill the British navy after that you should control the trade. Thats what i did probably a bit more complicated though lol

There's one interesting diplomatic thing you can do in the beginning. I was able to trade Hanover to Prussia in exchange for the region they own that borders Paris. I was also able to get two techs (Public Schools, and Fire and Advance), a trade agreement, and them to trade embargo Russia out of the deal. However I think it may be better not to trade with Prussia since you don't want to aid their economy if you plan on going to war with them in the future. Maybe just get them to trade embargo Russia with no trade agreement would be a smarter thing to do.

Originally Posted by Fotchimus

There's one interesting diplomatic thing you can do in the beginning. I was able to trade Hanover to Prussia in exchange for the region they own that borders Paris. I was also able to get two techs (Public Schools, and Fire and Advance), a trade agreement, and them to trade embargo Russia out of the deal. However I think it may be better not to trade with Prussia since you don't want to aid their economy if you plan on going to war with them in the future. Maybe just get them to trade embargo Russia with no trade agreement would be a smarter thing to do.

thought it was a good idea so I did some experimentation
option 1 trade for cleves with prussia,trade,tech
option 2 trade for ireland with gb,trade,peace,tech,cash

hannover is a bit exposed

either way one saves the expense of adding troops to protect hanover

Originally Posted by gord96

Hey guys. Enjoyed my first campaigns as Russia and Poland. I think I want to give France a try. Any tips? I have yet to really start. I have looked at the map and it seems i have 3-4 small stacks spread out Europe. Is it best to combine them for a couple full stacks?

Thanks for any help with the 'crappos'!

France? How about: steamroll the world!

Otherwise: yes, Britain will invade at some point. Nothing that cannot be quickly countered though. It seems, they have a recurring mania to capture Brittany. Prussia is likely to declare soon unless, on turn 0, France obtains an alliance with them and bribes them to attack Russia. Also, it seems the AI is 100% stupid enough to walk it's Venice garrison deep into Italy on turn 0. French army in Italy is sufficient to deliver a swift strike to Venice and liberate it on the same turn. Otherwise: build up trade, harass English ports (I know, it's supposed to be the other way around); gather your armies and steamroll into the direction of your choosing. Capture of London is not out of the question too given that the British AI does not know what to do with it's fleet.

Now, it all changes if you play against a human opponent

Originally Posted by Fotchimus

There's one interesting diplomatic thing you can do in the beginning. I was able to trade Hanover to Prussia in exchange for the region they own that borders Paris. I was also able to get two techs (Public Schools, and Fire and Advance), a trade agreement, and them to trade embargo Russia out of the deal. However I think it may be better not to trade with Prussia since you don't want to aid their economy if you plan on going to war with them in the future. Maybe just get them to trade embargo Russia with no trade agreement would be a smarter thing to do.

Well, if you play on anything harder than medium, all AI's factions get huge boost to their economy through 'cheats'. Thus, trade or no trade does not impact AI's economies. It does impact YOUR economy. So, as a rule, trade with anybody you can...

The AI does get a lot of bonus income but I noticed in previous ETW games that whoever I traded with tended to do much better in the campaign map. As Russia I was trading with Poland and they were dominating Europe. As Spain I was trading with Prussia and they did the same thing. In both cases we were making huge amounts of money from the trade agreement so it only could have helped. Why help the future enemy? Unless you want the challenge anyway.

Originally Posted by Fotchimus

The AI does get a lot of bonus income but I noticed in previous ETW games that whoever I traded with tended to do much better in the campaign map. As Russia I was trading with Poland and they were dominating Europe. As Spain I was trading with Prussia and they did the same thing. In both cases we were making huge amounts of money from the trade agreement so it only could have helped. Why help the future enemy? Unless you want the challenge anyway.

Well, from my casual observations, on harder difficulties, the more messed up the AI's economy is the more cash bonus it gets from the game engine. In ETW, on VH, I have seen factions spawning stacks after stacks of line armies WHILE I am blockading their trade everywhere. I know, with that income (with 100% blockaded trade) my faction would just go bankrupt...

I took my time and finished the game on turn 56

First turn, I took Venice and destroyed nearby Austrian trading port. For some reason, after that Austria sued for peace and remained peaceful until the end. I've combined all the available troops into two stacks, one remained in North Italy just in case Austria changes it's mind (it never did ) and the other started taking out small city-states in Northern Europe (like Hassen and such).

I also aggressively expanded trade, used all initial ships to grab as many trade nodes as possible. I still kept my main fleet near Portugal, didn't venture into Atlantic, fearing the Nelson's fleet which, in my game, was busy blockading the Botavians. Just in case, I've destroyed my trade port nearby since most of trade went there and switched to my Mediterranean ports for trade. I was constantly building trade ships, and in general focused on economy, working slowly my way from cheapest economy buildings to more expensive ones, as budget allowed. Trade nodes do bring good money! First two I got almost doubled my income! granted, it was very low at the time

So, for about 10-15 turns, I didn't build any troops, only economy (i.e., trade ships), so the troops I was getting from 'liberating' small states were a big help It was a little hairy when first Saxony and then Prussia attacked me with large armies plus a little nosy Swedish army was poking around while I had only one stack there but my Nappy prevailed Not without help from my protectorates, though Also, peaceful Austria made it a lot easier to survive with limited troops. I took Berlin, defeated a rebellion with one and half stack rebellion (luckily, the larger stack spawned near Saxony so when I attacked them, Saxony came to my help as a good protectorate they were )

Keeping and building up Berlin was instrumental to my victory, not only providing a healthy inflow of income but also a very powerful military base in the middle of Europe, allowing me to replenish troops at rapid rates near front lines Well, until I went to Russia, of course I did try to loot it first but decided that even 25k of gold it gave wasn't worth it in the long run.

Having multiple protectorates pays off, they eventually build large stacks which help to protect my borders but of course, they need defending before they manage to do that. That's how I got into war with Saxony, which tried to take away my lightly defended protectorate.

Spys are also very important. I used them mostly to destroy military-industrial complex of the enemy and had two residents in Austria the whole time, destroying barracks, gunshops and economy buildings in Vienna and Prague, I think that helped a lot to pacify them

Eventually, I had money to build a third stack which hanged back, destroying occasional British invasion, which in two times it occurred, took place in Hannover of all places. It also captured Batavian republic and whatever small states I had in NE Europe, liberating or making them mine.

Last but not least, I've built up my fleet, harassing enemy shiplanes and trade nodes, which eventually got the attention of Nelson, which was either busy blockading the Botavians (before they became mine, at which point they started to trade) or transporting troops to Hannover. When Nelson left to Northern Atlantic, chasing my main fleet, I've snuck into Ireland my fourth stack I built for that purpose and made Ireland and Scotland my protectorates without a single shot - the brits left them completely unprotected! after that, it was a quick and bloody fight for London and England became my protectorate Didn't want to spend time fighting rebellions any more

In the meantime, my north Italian army captured Sicily and southern Italy, as well as Gibraltar which had no defense. Then I send them back to Venice, waiting until Nappy survives winter in Russia and takes Moscow, and once that happened, I've captured Vienna, ending game in one turn