Nobody plays France?

[eefums]

Back to the topic, french may have the best combo available on the field, good infantry, superior cavalry. Only problem is you get surrounded pretty fast and have to deal with several wars at same time (Empire and England are good bets on first attacker).

I've been playing this game non stop for two days on like 12 campaigns and I've never seen HRE fight France once. Your best bet is seeing (In order of occurance) England invading, then Spain and then Milan sometimes.

I really want to play French, they look cool. I might start up a campaign with them today.

[Furious Mental]

How does the Mongol horde behave? Does it try to settle down and create an empire or does it just rampage around destroying stuff? I found it rather silly that in BI the hordes often seemed to campaign until they were just the faction leader with 9 chevrons.

[Richard I Coeur de Lion]

How does the Mongol horde behave? Does it try to settle down and create an empire or does it just rampage around destroying stuff? I found it rather silly that in BI the hordes often seemed to campaign until they were just the faction leader with 9 chevrons.

I've found the horde to be behaving quite well, they've settled in all of the Egyptian land that they won, are having quite a few battles with the turks and have just decided to try to take Antioch back from me. They are even engaging me in naval warfare!

Due to having just launched my third crusade against them I've now got my very first chapter house of St John

In MTW the horde always swept across eastern europe and came into contact with the Russians, Polish, & Hungarian factions, however Baghdad seems to be their first port of call this time.

[Furious Mental]

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I'm still awaiting the arrival of the game, here on the fatal shore.

[Filipe24]

I don't play with france becos i don't sympathise with them as a culture. They are quite strong though. Im playing portugal (about 100 turns in and they have defeated the HRE and have allied with the spanish and are after me :( also the pope is french. Difficult times ahed for me i think

[Duncan_Hardy]

Last night I finished a Short Campaign as the French (they were the first nation I chose).

Their cavalry is excellent, and relatively easy to obtain. 15 turns into the game I was training Feudal Knights, who have only 250 upkeep, come in units of 40 and will cause pretty much anything to rout within 10 seconds if they charge them in the rear or flank (a head-on charge is surprisingly successful, even against spearmen, though expect to take casualties). 30 turns into the game I had Chivalric Knights, and with a small army composed of 3 units of these, a general, and a few militia archers/spearmen I beat a huge Milanese army.

Infantry is also great, though you'll need to upgrade a castle a few times before you access them. Armoured Sergeants (needs a tier 3 castle + barracks) can hold the line against any early infantry and fend off most cavalry, and about 40 turns into the game you'll be training Voulgiers, who are damn amazing... far better than billmen which I have fought against IMO. They are very cheap for their armour and unit size, have lowish upkeep, and wield armour piercing weapons which decimate both cav and infantry. Best of all, they can do a phalanx formation.

Their only weakness is archers; their best pre-gunpowder unit is the crossbowman, which pales in comparison to Arab archers, longbowmen etc.

I completed my game around turn 59 (c.1220), but I can tell that they will own later periods too; in fact, the first turns are the hardest time, as you have to rush to seize rebel towns, secure alliance amongst your many enemies and eject the English from Caen ASAP. Once you own the French provinces, it's a matter of expanding your economy and castles then bulldozing Europe with your amazing troops.

P.S.: CA has done an "egyptian" with French accent and speech samples, it's driving me insane... Much of my family speaks English with a French accent, yet it sounds nothing like the units' accent in M2:TW, they've got a really annoying voice actor. Furthermore, their pre-battle speeches are full of stereotypes about modern France (e.g. before I took London, the general went on about how the English have "no sense of style, no élan, and no beautiful women)

[Horatius]

Last night I finished a Short Campaign as the French (they were the first nation I chose).
Much of my family speaks English with a French accent, yet it sounds nothing like the units' accent in M2:TW, they've got a really annoying voice actor. Furthermore, their pre-battle speeches are full of stereotypes about modern France (e.g. before I took London, the general went on about how the English have "no sense of style, no élan, and no beautiful women)

I am going to actually try and play the French just to hear that stuff sounds funny.

[Solo]

Well yes i can guarantee you this arent french medieval names (and I'm in a very good position to say that). On the bright side, someone is already working on the unpack tool and I already have a list based on universitary works ready to replace it. But I really dont blame them for that, its a detail compared to the whole game engine and there are far more serious issues (plus its easy to fix).

@eefums
Well I have started the game numerous times with France for some reasons and guess who attacked me first each time ? :) Thats related to rebel cities in the east of France, so the AI may not be that aggressive if you dont take them by yourself.

[Furious Mental]

Well at least the developers in Brisbane didn't put in Australian stereotypes about England.

Can the French not hire longbowmen as mercenaries? "Free company longbowmen" or some such unit?

[TheImp]

Well at least the developers in Brisbane didn't put in Australian stereotypes about England.

Can the French not hire longbowmen as mercenaries? "Free company longbowmen" or some such unit?

I was wondering about that as well. Maybe while campaigning in England such a thing is possible.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

They get Scots Guard.