I'm a bit worried about France.

[Didz]

I'm 50 turns into my British Campaign and I'm a bit worried about the threat currently posed by France.

I decided for this campaign to limit myself to one trade post per trade theatre, rather than monopolize all of them and I don't know if that has caused the difference but France is looking pretty formidable as an opponent. It also had a couple of pretty lucky random DoW events recently that have allowed it to gain more territory in the new world.

Surprisingly, its also avoided being at war with the entire world, which is quite unusual. In fact, the only primary factions its at war with are the Dutch and the Austrians and neither of those factions are giving it much grief, nor are they allied.

France is also allied to Spain against the Dutch and the only other primary faction Spain is at war with are Portugal.

So, basically I am faced with a Terrifying/Spectacular faction (France) allied with another Terrifying/Spectacular faction (Spain) at war with one of my allies (The Dutch) and both equally interested in forging an empire in the new world.

On a more detailed level, I have concerns that at the moment France is ahead of me on the evolution and technology scale. A quick check of their prestige shows:

Category	Britain	France	Spain
Enlightenment	25	194	20
Ecomonic's	30	107	195
Naval	65	30	28
Army	102	76	60

As you can see both France and Spain are economic powerhouses, and France is the most enlightened faction in the game at this point. Likewise, in terms of the new world they are strong competition for control. France has almost as many territories as Britain and together France and Spain are the dominant force.

Territories	Europe	America's	India
Britain	2	10	-
France	2	9	-
Spain	5	8	-
Franco-Spanish Alliance	7	16	-

Technology wise France already has Naval Architecture advances and their naval base at Brest is a Drydock, so that means they can build 3rd rates and all I have are 5th Rates at the moment, though I could build 4th Rates in a crisis.

Likewise they have developed Four-Field Crop Rotation which means their provinces are developing faster than mine. They also have Division of Labour.

So, things are looking a bit awkward. A large French Army is massing in New England as I type and I think it is really only a matter of time before we go to war. In fact its inevitable, as France has already seized New England and Maine and I want them back.

I'm pretty sure that man-for-man my German mercenaries and Colonial Line Infantry are more than a match for the French (at least as long as they haven't got Fire-by-Rank) but at sea I could not stand up against French 3rd Rates and if the French fleet gains control of the channel then I'm pretty much done for.

So, I'm rushing research on Naval Architechure and hoping to get a Drydock at Portsmouth and a few 3rd rates before the French kick-off just not sure they are going to wait that long. This could actually be the first campaign I've lost legitimately.