Help with French army setup?

I need some help with my setup. I'm using France constantly in all my battles(and I win 80% of them) but I can't seem to find the right balance. My setup is:

One General Staff
Eight Fusiliers of the Line
Five Chaussers
Two Old Guard
Two Grenadiers A' Chevel

My old guard usually win most of the battles for me, but my lack of cavalry always puts me at a disadvantage. Does anyone have any setup ideas that would let me keep some old guard but have more cavalry as well?

trade those grenadiers a cheval in for lancers and or chassuers a cheval and that should solve your cavalry problems.

Originally Posted by DunkFunk

trade those grenadiers a cheval in for lancers and or chassuers a cheval and that should solve your cavalry problems.

I can only afford two lancers or two chausers a chevel if I do that, so I figured I might as well have the elite cavalry. Also, lancers performance against other cavalry are not very good.

Originally Posted by Joachim Murat

I can only afford two lancers or two chausers a chevel if I do that, so I figured I might as well have the elite cavalry. Also, lancers performance against other cavalry are not very good.

They are as good as heavy cav when put up against other cav you just gotta micro like crazy and have two of em

1 Gen staff
4 volts
4 swiss
2 old guard
1 young guard
6 shooter cav
Or something like that

I don't bring the full 5 volts because I feel since France's strength is not in lights, so I might as well bring more of what it's good at, which is cavalry, line and art (if you're playing an artillery battle).

Seriously, don't bring the grenadiers a cheval, if you do you're probably going for cav vs cav, which is not the best use of cavalry.

jmartin has said in some of his vids that you should use cav against infantry, not to eliminate enemy cav. Ideal use of cav is to
1. get rid of enemy skirmishers
2. force opponents to get into square (if they don't even better)
3. chase routing units

Originally Posted by ikcti

1 Gen staff
4 volts
4 swiss
2 old guard
1 young guard
6 shooter cav
Or something like that

I don't bring the full 5 volts because I feel since France's strength is not in lights, so I might as well bring more of what it's good at, which is cavalry, line and art (if you're playing an artillery battle).

Seriously, don't bring the grenadiers a cheval, if you do you're probably going for cav vs cav, which is not the best use of cavalry.

jmartin has said in some of his vids that you should use cav against infantry, not to eliminate enemy cav. Ideal use of cav is to
1. get rid of enemy skirmishers
2. force opponents to get into square (if they don't even better)
3. chase routing units

This is the exact same build i would recommend

This is gonna be tough to remember since it was a random setup that I had used and works pretty damn well. Helped me win a 2v1.

Gen staff : Marchel Ney

3 old guard

3 or 4 garde nationale

3 volts

4 or 5 swiss foot

Now I cant remember the cav part but fill it in with whatever you have left. Now I only take three volts basically cause your going to be playing a lot of prussian players and its no good just taking a unit to get mowed down. Besides the player isnt going to be worried about your volts if they see a massive line of garde nationale (yea I checker the old guard and garde) charging their flank. Also don't think that the garde will route immediately cause it wont that's a massive bomb of morale you have on his flank that he will probably immediately react to if he was smart then you can basically keeping doing a push and pull type effect.

I can't micro that much. I'd rather have two elites that I can count on then two lancers who need a bunch of management while I'm trying to fight. Also, I think I can just bring a lot of fusiliers and stretch them out far enough to where his cavalry cant flank me.

Originally Posted by Joachim Murat

I can't micro that much. I'd rather have two elites that I can count on then two lancers who need a bunch of management while I'm trying to fight. Also, I think I can just bring a lot of fusiliers and stretch them out far enough to where his cavalry cant flank me.

Get the unrestricted camera, and make sure your camera movement speed is high.

You seriously, seriously almost always want more than just 2 cav, even if they're elite. Shooter cav stand a good chance against other cav, e.g. in a 2v2 charge one in and get the other to shoot, even if you lose you still deal heavy casualties.

i never use the french. i cant get a build from them which suits my style of play. besides some of there cav and old guard i dont really rate them. infact if i see a player opposite me using french it makes me happy as i know i will get to fight the battle on my terms....

If you are fighting battles with only 2 cav then you're using the wrong faction. Be Britain. Their line and ight inf will chew the arse out of french infantry. A young guard can barely outshoot a british line.

i just tried to field your army and there arent enough coins to do it?

either im buggering up hardcore or something i dunno

One General Staff
Eight Fusiliers of the Line
Five Chaussers
Two Old Guard
Two Grenadiers A' Chevel

are you sure thats the build you take? i can get all of that bar the last chassuer so i have like 530 left over :S

Ill get you back to you on it, it might of been seven fusiliers.

Originally Posted by Joachim Murat

Five Chaussers

Sorry to bash your French, but you've nearly got the French word for "socks" there

But on a more game related note, I highly suggest you drop the Grenadiers a Cheval.

As previously mentioned, high tier cav are only effective(stat wise, definitely not cost effective though) against other cav, facing infantry you're better off getting more cavalry, and ranged cavalry too.

The main reasons I get ranged cavalry is because against other cavalry, a volley will pretty much shatter what fighting capabilities the unit has, and the follow-up charge eliminates it. Against infantry, if they form square in time you can still get a volley off and pull out. All of this was pretty much drilled into my head back when ETW Light Dragoons had 90 range vs Line Infantry 70, god that was probably the most overpowered cavalry ever to be fielded in a Total War game. Coupled with Sweden's larger unit sizes and I rarely lost battles. Its all about getting rid of their cavalry (or at the very least minimizing your losses to their cavalry) and making your own do as much damage as possible. This is why I really prefer using Russia's Cossacks, at 440 a unit(If I recall), they pack speed and lethal charge bonus. With good usage and (micro)management you can expect to kill enemies equivalent to twice their value if not more.

Another thing, no matter how depleted a cavalry unit is, people nearly ALWAYS form square to counter it. Often when my battered and nearly wiped out units of Cossacks are lying around, I pop them near enemy infantry that are engaged by my infantry. Depending on the situation, charging in and/or simply sitting there, is enough to get the enemy to form square, which allows your own infantry to easily overwhelm theirs with firepower. If he doesn't form square, oblige him and charge your cavalry while your infantry fire until the last possible moment, and then shift fire.

A final question, what do you guys think about Chasseurs and Voltigeurs? Which is the better buy? I havent played Vanilla in ages but from what I recall, when I did play France, which was seldom the case; I got the Chasseurs. Mainly because I have a strong agreement with the quote "Quantity has a quality all of its own."

I rarely play as France because they don't suit my style of play, but i have found it harder as an opponent facing volts not so much because of their firepower but because they seem to take so ong to die.