How to take on the French?

[mojo_helpermonkey]

Well I'm back with another question, I'm still working my way through my first campaign as the Egyptians and getting a feel for the game. (Yes I will be hitting up the MP very soon i think:) Anyway, I'm having a hell of a time against the French. I'm no slouch, I control the entire Med. Sea trade routes and all of the Mid East into eastern europe and all of Spain and some of France but everytime I attack the french I either lose or take heavy heavy casualties. Its around 1320 right now and I attack with Sacaren inf. Muwahid footmen, varieties of calvalry, cannon, arbalesters, etc. I can never beat them Even when the odds are around 3000(egypt) vs 2000(France), they always route my men and I do minimal damage. Is there a key unit that works well against the french or a certain strategy? Those chiv. men and knights slaughter me. HELP

[Panther]

Well i good tip would be to use harrassing units like horse archers etc or you can try to isolate parts of the army. Personally i prefer the turks or the Almohads, i dont really like the egypt even though the crusaders have to go through the other 2 muslim factions mto reach you http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[Stormer]

full camel rush http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[SmokWawelski]

Check the valor of the units involved in battles, as this makes a LOT of difference. In general, the later period is based towards the European nations, as they have heavier cavalry and infantry. As guys here point out, use what the French do not have: high mobility and camels.

You can harass the heavy units with mobile archers and try to separate main lines of knights.
Camels are known to cause fear with horses, use them wisely though, as they will get rolled over by heavy knights eventually…

Do not forget to ask your war-gods for help before rushing into the battle

[Shahed]

Upload a save game if possible, then we could offer some better advice.

I played Egypt (still am http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ).

[Exile]

look here for some good info:

http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin....;t=4562 (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=7;t=4562)

spear units like the saracens and muhawid are good at holding enemy units off for a bit, but the dont deliver enough of a punch to beat a strong Christian army. You need some Abyssians or Ghazis to back your spearmen up. Charge those infantry units into the enemy flank/rear. Even then you need to outnumber high/late era Christian armies and use superrior tactics because their troops ARE tougher than yours. Also, you can hire mercenaries or bribe Christian armies to get better units.

[LadyAnn]

Egyptians has 3 armor piercing units:
- Ghazi
- Abyssinian Guards
- Mameluke Cav

As Egypt, I flooded France with troops, attacking all provinces at once. Got France within 3 years (withdraw from some battles because I have won the other ones, so I can consolidate my gains).

Annie