France

[Slaists]

I agree with erebrus that the key to French campaign is a protectorate. Luisiana!

Capture the regions that bother you in europe and gift them to Luisiana. Capture the required regions to fill the mission and leave one of them (I left aloquin territory) in the hands of the natives. Then, you suddenly capture that last region and double the lands you own.

Let me disagree. By gifting the regions to Louisiana you still get them back once the Louisiana mission is done. As a result: the nations that lie behind those regions become your enemies by default.

What I did in my campaign (VH) was different.

1. As soon as the Dutch declared war on the Spanish (this seems to happen invariably), I moved into the Dutch lands, conquered Amsterdam and gifted it to Wurtemberg in exchange for them becoming my protectorate.

2. Soon after this happens Westphalia declares war either on you or on Wurtemberg. Destroy Westphalia armies (don't take the capital) and offer them the protectorate. In three French campaigns I started, they always agreed. Actually, in two cases it was THEM who offered the deal to me as soon as I beat their armies.

What you have as a result is a safe northern border with two puny german protectorates with fragmented territory (Westphalia is between Holland and Wurtemberg) that are at war with each other... It reminded me of Richelieu's "German containment" strategy.