France

[Zarky]

What I've found effective is to capture North Africa and then use Tunisia and Morocco to build Dragoons, roughly 1-2 turns to bring them to Paris. If you capture Morocco, Algiers and Tunisia you get decent amount of cash from each, I converted all ports into fisheries and exempted taxes to make cities grow so I could build churches (10 religious unrest otherwise). Sure this might cause slight rise in administration cost but it effectively decimates Barbary states and makes you the king of Mediterranean (if you destroy Savoy and Genoa).

[Braden]

The main drawback in capturing Northern African provinces is that they seem to be pretty hard to control, still financially they can be worth the effort but I tend to leave Africa (and India) until the final stages of my campaigns and concentrate on the Americas.

Comments on latest update:

Ai is more aggressive but sometimes suicidally so, and might not wait to gather sufficient forces to actually challenge you well in battles. That said, it seems that the Ai is more aggressive against itself also so you do get some oddities occurring like the Dutch being wiped out by Westphalia or Austria marching an unsupported army to seize Westphalia's capital city when they've marched through several other countries to get there

Other items that have happened to me since the latest minor update is USA emerging as a faction before 1730...odd but perhaps not unheard of and might be linked to weakening Britain in North America.

[Marten]

Nice guide with really helpful additions.

In my last campaign with France i gave "French Guyana" in Turn 2 to Portugal ... meant war between UP and Spain / Portugal from Turn 3 on. So UP was very busy from that ... Both Trade notes who are occupied by the Portugese right from the start went free for my ships, 'cause the portugese ones were sunk or damaged and driven away by UP ships.

I declared war on the Pueblo and they conquered nearly the Louisiana protectorates, but the indians in the west declared war on them ... and the Hurons assisted. I gave Newfoundland to GB and got Ruperts in exchange, gave this province to the Inuit. They were now also involved in the great indian war ...
Allied with the Hurons i conquered the Huron main territory, got the Louisiana territories back and finished in the end what the french never achieved in real history: The lands from Arcadia to Louisiana in french hands. The Iros were never a challenge, they declared war on the 13 colonies (and conquered New England, Maine and New York) and as a result from an uprising in New England ... the USA were born and from that on my loyal ally.

In Europe i went straight on to Savoy, got Württemberg and Rhineland as my ally / protecorate, occupied the rebellious flanders (they went mad after 2 or 3 UP invasions ...) and got Prussia as ally in the war with Austria / GB. This meant constant war in Europe for the rest of the campaign and was a really big mistake ... Lost thousands of good soldiers in campaigns in bavaria and northern italy, but it was fun.

In the end i missed the objectives (played on "Prestige" until 1799) but the campaign was my best ever. Never changed my absolute government, my try with "nation and alliance building" in america and europe ended up in constant wars between the main powers. Russia conquered most of the ottomans and persia, Finland and Norway.
I'll definitely play as france again ... maybe after N:TW.

[Braden]

Thanks *bows*.

Native Americans as Foes -

This is a word of warning for players as France fighting in North America. The Natives appear weak but approach each battle with caution!

Honestly, foes such as Britain are far easier to deal with as they will fighting (obligingly) in a similar fashion to you and can be blasted to a pulp over a long bombardment from your cannon.

The natives won't permit this, even the mobs fight hand to hand well and swam your small companies en-mass and unless your troops have some experience (and bayonets!) with them they're likely to break and run.

Militia - don't field them if you can avoid it against Native Americans, they will run away.

Line Infantry - your best bet for effective combat. Draw up a tight line of infantry and advance in stages, so that you don't loose cohesion.

Cannon - using several units is very helpful. Later you WILL face Natives with cannon but luckily not too many units so make sure you pound the natives from a distance and use grape-shot as soon as you can.

Hidden Natives - LOTS of Native troops "hide". This is VERY annoying and potentially dangerous as you march past them only to be attacked from the rear! This is why I advance in a tight line, in an orderly fashion over the battlefield... I sweep the battlefield clean slowly and effectively.

Try not to leave large gaps between companies of men as being swamped and overlapped by the natives has a major effect on morale.

[jsberry]

I have had success by concentrating my efforts on the Carribean in the early game. Removing the pirate nation is top priority because Indiamen are basically worthless until Pirates are eliminated. Holland is a natural enemy, so I grab Dutch Guianna ASAP and Curacao shortly after beating the Pirates. That's a lot of sugar and spice right there, and easy to protect. Since Holland is an enemy anyway, I provoke them by trading small parts of Canada to Spain for Flanders. You can defend Paris and Brussels with a strong army in Amsterdam, also blocking Dutch trade. When Britain attacks, trade it Upper Canada for peace (it makes little money, and becomes a hostage that you can get back if Britain double-crosses you). This process should take until 1710 or so.

In 1710-1720, build the universities, trade routes, and infrastructure/buidlings to make France thrive.

By 1720 or so, France should be ready to clear out the Indians and regain Louisiana.