French

[Lanemerkel1]

SPARKATUS is this better? i wrote that in a hury so i didn't take the time to make it readable (for some reason i thought no one would read it)

I did better than charlemagne and napoleon combined when I played the french on late, first I started training all the best troops I could as quick as I could while building fortifications towers and building up my economy then when I felt safe enough to do so I BLITZKREIGED the english, slamming Aquitane with my best troops then once the english were off the mainland I bribed the scots started training highland clansmen there while making temporary peace with england, by the time my highlanders got up to a 1000 strong I had a good fleet so i sent an army into ireland taking it without a problem, then I started training kerns and gallowglasses there once i had 1000 kerns 1000 gallowglasses and 1000 highlanders I swooped northumbria with highlanders wales with kerns and wessex with gallowglasses took those 3 provinces without a problem, I sent a new army of 500 newly trained highlanders from scotland sent them to northumbria while i still had 500 gallowglasses and 500 kerns in ireland i sent the gallowglasses to wessex and the kerns to wales, then sent the initial invasion force of what was left of those 3000 men and CRUSHED mercia with NO PROBLEMO, all the while of this making chivalric sergeants in ile de france,champagne and lorraine, then I used the germans own tactics against them blitzing into germany it took a while to finish that up (17 years) then i had enough men in england that the main force of gallowglasses,kerns and highlanders and i sent them to crush denmark a viola it worked! soon i had them down in swiss territory crushin the swiss, however they had taken heavy losses, by then so i backed them up with CMAAs from burgundy, i drove the swiss out of switzerland but they had the province north of it so i blitzed it then i renforced the gallowglasses,kerns and highlanders back up to 3000 strength by bringin in newly trained ones from ireland and scotland, then they marched full strength into italian territory runnin them off the main land i then with an army of CMAAs from aquitaine and provence, i blitzed the argonese soon they were done for just after i finished the war with argon my king died and my excomm for invading the HRE was over, so i launched a crusade to antioch using my fleets line from toulhouse to the holy lands i enforced it with a army of 5500 strong CMAAs, then i was in antioch immedietly and the eggys holding it had no chance then launched another crusade with some 3000 Chivalric Knights, to tripoli captured it no problem, then i sent one for edessa with some 3000 strong gallowglasses,kerns, and highlanders mixed with some knights templar and hobilars, edessa was mine 2 years later once that was done i launched one of seismeic proportions to palistine a total of some 7000 strong roman gladiators, (i created that unit myself) also some 1000 order foot soldiers and 500 knights templar ended up in the holy lands, once my forces in france were rebuilt and for some reason the spanish got excommed, i invaded spain but this one was hard a 45 year long war with some 12000 casulties against me however i conquered spain and started rebuilding my forces, and getting my funds up then i waited a few years until both sides of the golden horde-russian war had been decimated, then i blitzed both pleasing the pope so from my holy stronghold in the mid east i built up my forces by training every type of unit i could and hiring turcopole mercenarys, then i finished off the eggys and then looked north and crusaded constaninople, which had been taken by the turks from there i used the old sayings SURROUND and conquer and DIVIDE and conquer as by taking constaninople i divided the turks holdings in europe from their ones in turkey and i had them surrounded by having a succesful crusade launched to moldavia which they had then i blitzed into a 32 year long war the turks fought hard but i beat them, next on the menu BYZANTIUM i gobbled them up in 2 years. i just finished a "world war" the catholics ME,the PAPACY,and what was left of ITALY, vs. the excommed HUNGARY,POLAND,and the ARAGONESE in sicily, that was the only 6 nations on the map then and that war lasted 67 years with me and the italy sunk the argonese and huns at sea, while me and the pope split their land masses then me alone crushed the poles, i took what was left of that century to rebuild my shattered economy, once it was back up and my forces reconstructed, turned on rebel provinces everywhere got them and then smashed the italians off the map, crushing them with gusto. then i wope out the popesta my arquebusiers making him "HOLY" (in other words full of holes) and that ended my campaign in a big V for VICTORY!!!!

[Don Corleone]

I've been trying to play as the French: Early, Hard, GA lately. I never realized how challenging the French GA were, quite possibly the most fascinating part of the game I've faced so far.

Beyond the normal homelands, conquest and crusades, you've got to: 1) build a citadel in Tripoli by 1200 2) build a cathedral in Ile de France somewhere between 1150 and 1250.

The 2nd one isn't that big a deal, I'd quit playing if I couldn't do that, but still, I like the historically accurate aspect of building Notre Dame to make France the religious capital of Christendom.

The 1st, however, is a bitch. Think about it for a sec. Assume the Eggys (or the Turks for that matter) don't tech up beyond fort in Tripoli (very likely). That means when you conquer it, you'll knock the fort out. In order to build a citadel, you have to spend 4(fort) + 8(keep) + 12(castle) + 16(citadel) = 40 years!!! prior to 1200. That means you must take Tripoli by 1160, preferably with a crusade.

Now, I don't know about all of you, but personally, I never march my crusades across Europe. I've had one too many go kaplooey on the way, and that is disastrous for morale and influence. So I wait until I build a chain of ships from where I want the crusade to start until I've reached where I intend to drop it. This also doesn't give the target faction 15 years to beef the province up while you're slowly chugging along. You've already declared to them where you're headed, and you might have to fight through all sorts of border territories that weaken your crusade to futility on the way. This takes a LONG time and a lot of cash to build all these ships.

It can be done, but even so, you must keep Italy, Byzantium and Sicily happy. If you tick off one of them, you're toast, because they'll start sinking your ships, possibly putting you past that critical 1159 date.

All in all, very, very interesting. I've taken to roleplaying and quit trying to wipe everyone out, just taking what I need. Makes it harder, but more realistic and more fun.

[Boris of Bohemia]

If you ever finish the krak, I'd like to hear how. Seems like you'd need a chain of luck as long as the chain of ships. You'd need there to be a war between Egypt and somebody else, and you'd need the war to go just so... Once, playing Aragon, Antioch revolted fairly early so I bought it. Might have built a citadel, but couldn't hold the place.

[TwinMfg]

EARLY, GA, NORMAL

I hadn't played the Froggies before, and from reading this thread it seems that building the Krak is rather difficult. Therefore, I decided to give it a shot. I know, I'm playing on normal difficulty, but I'm still relatively new to the game.

I did not want to conquer the world, but rather focus on all the GAs. But I felt it necessary to have a strong starting position in Europe. Therefore, I followed Katank's advice and attacked England on turn one. Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitane fell quickly. Wessex was not much tougher. I bribed the Welsh longbowmen soonest, which were ready to attack Mercia along with my forces in Wessex. The pope gave the stop command when I invaded Wessex. Since I'm playing the good catholic, I stormed the fort in Wessex and stopped there. Ah, but Mercia rebelled and the Brits retreated, so I walked into Mercia. The Brits were down to just Northumbria.

While waiting for the 10 yrs to expire, I build defensive armies consisting of 4 spears, 2 UM, 2 archers, and a 1-2 cav (RKs or Hobs). Toulouse, Brittany, and Wessex build toward ships. Flanders is my cash cow. Other provinces build units, and 40% agriculture.

After the 10 yrs are up, Northumbria and Scotland are mine. Still building ships and pushing them directly to Tripoli so I can crusade. Once Toulouse is pumping boats, it builds a chapter house.

A small delay occurred when HRE attacked Flanders- and only Flanders, the fools! I knew I couldn't win the battle and I didn't have enough room in my fort for all my units. So, I fought a retreating battle, raining arrows from 360 archers into their advancing units. I defeated the first wave, but retreated while their reinforcements were deploying. Next turn, I retook Flanders and invaded Freisland, Lorraine, Bugandy, Prov(whatever is next to Toulouse). I now have a nice 4-province eastern border, and never suffered a slowdown in my ship building.

I had ships in the eastern Med just after 1130 AD. I built a crusade in Toulouse and launched it to Tripoli. The Eggys had a keep there, which I suspected would be reduced to a fort once I secured the province. Well, surprise, surprise! They finished a castle the turn I invade. It is reduced to a keep by the time I'm done fighting (in a very tight battle. See the Praise to the camels thread), but that still saves me 12 yrs, and its only around 1137 AD. I immediately launched another crusade at antioch and will soon do the same to Palestine and Edessa, followed by every other Eggy province. Then the only other GA goal is conquest, so the Turks will be next.

[Don Corleone]

Well, I finally finished my GA game as the French. I was less agressive than TwinMFG, I focused on throwing the English off the continent, then sued for peace. They had a civil war and collapsed anyway, so I went ahead and annexed the Brittish Isles, to save them for civilization, of course.

The Italians attacked in 1134, just about the time I got my ships to Sicily. Between this naval struggle, and some unfortunate weather patterns, it took me a little longer to reach the Eastern Med, I arrived in 1134, during the reign of Charles IV. I immediately launched a crusade which was successful. For some reason, this really angered both the HRE and the Spaniards, who attacked me. I got a great battle in Aragon (annexed that in 1124 when I destroyed the Aragonese). I didn't take any Spanish territory, even though they attacked me with an alliance in place. Normally, my role playing has me take two provinces from a backstabbing ally (I take one from a neutral party). Likewise, the HRE were allied, so with them, I did take Burgundy & Provence. They wouldn't listen to reason and kept offerering ceasefires, then breaking them, so I taught them a lesson and took Lorraine as a lesson. That was then end of it, they were good neighbors after that. Once Tripoli is taken, it's a simple matter to build the Krak, it's just a matter of time and proper building queues. Ditto for the Cathedral of Notre Dame.


Anyway, even though I tried very hard to NOT to take very much territory, apparently I took too much. Nobody would ally with me. All in all, I was a little disappointed. It was fun to roleplay the game and keep focused on the GA goals, not conquest, but it could have been a little more exciting and realistic. The lack of steady allies was disappointing.

High period has sucky GA goals. They're all conquest. I'm going to investegate some of the Late ones next, they have some cool ones (Brittish have to establish a monopoly on wool, etc). I'll start a thread in the main hall to discuss the Late GA goals as this won't be focused on just the French.

Au Revoir...

[Don Corleone]

Erh, I'm sorry, naval chain reached the shores of Tripoli and the Crusade were launched in 1144.

[British Mutt + Viking]

I used to play French a lot and I found a unique strategy of trading one space for another. I took out the English provinces. but not to keep the lands, but to eliminate the English as a faction when stage two is done. Stage two, I build up some extra troops, then deconstruct most of the buildings in France for the gold. I mass all, and I do mean all, my troops in Flanders and then invade and crush all of England, including Wales and Scotland. In the meanwhile, the Germans generally go crazy and invade my french lands, but it is ok, for as long as I can hold onto Flanders, I am ok. Now, I convert England into my new "base." This way, I lose the farming revenue of France, but I need only worry about defending Flanders, and then I can building up my trade-links, and so on. Once I bring Ireland under my control, I have all I need to smash the HRE out of France. The idea is simple. I trade rich but hard to defend France for poor but easily defended England. England doesn't have the resources for me to conquer the world, but it does have the resources for me to reclaim France and then the world.
The advantage is protecting your infrastructure, by placing your production centers in England, out of harm's way. There is just enough money in England to fund a reclaimation of France later, and once you secure France, you have all the money you need to conquer the world. You will be able to concentrate on building soldiers and farms, not protecting your production centers. As long as Flanders is in your hands, the door to England is closed, if you fail to reclaim and hold onto France, you can just try again later