France

[zerathule]

France can make a blitzkrieg style conquest in the early game, like any faction in fact, but its quiet sad as this would prevent you from playing with the top tier units.
French late units are imho the best in the game : you get pikemen, vougiers for heavy infantry duty (and believe me they can be VERY effective when you elarn to turn off guard mode, even offensively) , excellent missile with the Aventuriers and the Scot Guard, and uber cavalry with the Lancers, noble and chivalric knights + the uber armor piercing french mounted archers.
Take all rebel settlements at first : Rennes, Dijon, Metz, Bordeaux, Bern, Bruges, Antwerp + Cagliari and Ajaccio.
Then the problem is to deal with neighbours.
England never attacked me as long as i kept Anger garisoned, but Milan, the Danes and the Hre always do, so you get a nasty eastern front.
In order to keep my ennemies at bay and have some time to develop, i usually get an alliance + military access with the pope, i blitz Milan and offer them vassalisation, same with the Danes and usually i take Francfort and the castle south of it, and give these to the pope.
Milan and the Danes, with some french florins will usually have 5 to 8 provinces that they'll manage for you (remember that vassal lands count as yours for victory) and the hre wont come after you having to cross your lands.
From this point, you'll have a long lasting war in spain, a short one in england/scotland, and finish the campaign in the middle-east.
Once your eastern front is locked as i said, the game will be slow paced, or at least you'll fight where and when you chose it, as the english wont pose any threat and the spanish/portuguese can be blocked at the Pyrenees while you build up a strong army.

On a tactical point of view, the best armies i played with are balanced armies : sure they heavyly rely on heavy cavalry but i rarely take more than 4 units of lancers and 2 mounted archers.
I usually have 4 aventuriers/scot guards, and the rest will be Voulgiers and a few Pikemens on the flanks.
In Phalanx formation they'll repel any invader long enought to be decimated by my heavy cavalry. The only army i havent tried yet are the mongols but i guess they could be dealt with too.

[Handel]

France is easy if you strike quickly. Attack in the first turn Bordeaux. Recruit cavalry later and send reinforcements. Once you take Bordeaux the line Bordeaux - Toulouse will make you are absolutely safe from Spain and Portugal.
In the same first turn send a spy to Dijon. Assemble an army and attack it. Recruit mercenaries if needed. If you are lucky and the spy opens the gate - great, take Dijon. If no leave it and attack Metz. This will be the second turn. If your spy don't open the gate siege it. You will need 3 turns. Of course you can attack on the next turn, but you will suffer lesser casualties is you starve it. Meanwhile recruit more cavalry and send it as reinforcement. Take Metz and go for Bern. Meanwhile you can send a general and few militia to take Dijon at your leisure (this will be enough). Once you establish the line Metz - Bern you are absolutely safe from HRE.
The only weak point remains Marseille. Don't stock it with expensive troops. Build a watch tower on the border with Genoa and you will have one turn warning if someone is attacking it. So you can bring reinforcements from Toulouse. Not foolproof because if Spain or Portugal attacks in the same time Toulouse your hands will be tied. But even losing Marsille is not a disaster. You can always take it later at your leisure.
Now it is time to start with England. Taking Caen is the first move. This leaves Rennes defenceless - no matter if the english already took it or not.
Meanwhile from the North - there are 2 rebel cities. As long as they remain rebel Rheims is safe. The watch tower on the border Rheims - Bruges - Antwerpen is a must.
After taking Caen it is good to take both Bruges and Antwerpen. BOTH. The safest thing is to turn Antwerpen in a castle. Both Caen and Metz are far away and Denmark will unleash waves on Antwerpen. But if Anwerpen is developped in a city it is pity to transform it. But then it will have stone walls and the defence will be easier. Four crossbowmen, 2 heavy cavalry, the town spear militia and just 2 heavy infantry will be enough to stop practically any attack. The problem is not with the attack itself, but with the retraining the units. Is there is a general and the time is critical the general will hire mercenaries. BUT - Denmark will unleash assasins on the town and the chance of killing is at least 5%. This may seem very slim chance, but for 5-6 turns the chance is already considerably higher. The solution - keep the general in Bruges and hire mercenaries from there.
Now it is time to conquer England, Sctoland and Dublin.

[Grand Lord of Poop~]

well i seem to be facing some problems playing france and if anyone can shed some light on this it would be great : I have everyone attacking me and almost constantly at war, is there any way to stop the AI from ganging up on me?

[Skott]

My experience as France had the same problem. Everyone wants a piece of you. I did a quick expansion like described by others above. I also sent out diplomats to all corners of the world and made alliances with everyone I could get to agree to it. Except the muslim factions. I rarely make alliances with them when playing a Christian faction. The reason is two-fold. 1)Muslim factions are rarely that big of a threat that I need their good graces and 2)Other christian factions get riled up when you align with muslim factions. So as a general rule I dont usually align with muslim factions.

Diplomacy is tough as France. One main thing you can do is make an alliance with The Pope and keep it. Keep a diplomat near Rome to gift him money if your standing starts to drop. Dont get excommunicated or your alliances wont help at all. Marrying your princesses off to closest neighbors helps too. You can gift money to those factions closest to you as a reward for their continued loyalty. Making gifts helps but if they attacked you once I wouldnt bother giving them money. Most likely they will attack again regardless.

Since England, Denmark, The HRE, and possibly Spain and/or Portugal are your main rivalries you need a friend you can count on and come to your aid and help beat back those enemies. There is such a friend. The Papal States. To get The Pope to take an active part on your behalf with troops requires him to have territory near you and better yet, between you and your rivalries. To do this take a territory and then gift it to The Pope. He will act as a buffer zone between you and whomever. For example lets say Denmark is a problem. Take Bruges or Antwerp (wich ever is closest to Danish territory at the time and then gift it to The Pope. Now he stands between you and Denmark. If the Danes march through his territory he's going to treat them as the agressor and attack. Since he's an ally (remember to stay allied with him) he'll fight Danish troops quite well. If he's not having good luck in the fights gift him money so he can keep fielding troops. Using the Pope in this way can be good. I have seen The Pope go out and conquor other mutual enemy territories on his own without any help from me. Just be sure you leave yourself access to the enemy for a later time. The Pope doesnt like you marching troops though his lands.

France is a harder faction to play than others simply due to its location in Europe. You gotta play the various factions off each other after your initial expansion rush. Use the Scots against England, Portuguese off the Spanish or vice versa(if they are at war with the Moors at the same time you can also give The Moors cash to fuel their attacks against Spain and/or Portugal), the Danes and The HRE against each other, Milan and Venice off each other, or against The HRE. You get the picture.

[Grand Lord of Poop~]

yea i understand you france does have a more central location compared to many other factions, surrounded by england (by water of course but it's tiny and the english can cross it at all times), HRE, Milan, Portugal, and later on even Spain!! Which makes it challenging. But on the otherhand, France also has the best cavalry second ONLY to the Mongols and VERY GOOD infantry in the late game. I compared it in the custom battles section. so, challenge and a kick-ass army, what more can you ask for?? that's why france has always been my favorite faction, despite all the french-bashing these days....

[Seyfullah]

I guess being smack dab in the middle of all other European countries, France has the inevitable fate of total war. This gives the game its meaning but after awhile it got frustrating for me. At first I allied with all my neighbors so I could consolidate all of France and take any other rebel settlements bordering my faction. I allied with the Moors as well. The English didn't seem like a threat and I didn't want to reduce my standing with the Pope so they kept Caen but nothing else on the mainland. In the end of my rush for the rebs I even conquered Zaragoza and Valencia to the spite of Spain and Portugal, who were my allies. The HRE made a move for Metz but I pulled a fast one and sieged it before they did. Later with the help of reinforcements I got the settlement. When I saw Bruges and Antwerp I tried to get there before others but the garrison in Bruges proved to be stronger than I thought causing me to be too late for Antwerp.
After having stabilized my empire, the Crusade for Antioch was called by the Pope and having everyone else as allies I decided to send a couple of crusader armies in order to form another empire in the Middle East and finish the game without incurring upon myself the Pope's wrath. On the way I saw and conquered Cagliari and Ajaccio, turning the latter into a city. Two and a half armies were on their way past Crete when the news of Venice's success reached home and they were on the Holy Lands without a cause. I thought I could get Jerusalem but the Egyptians surprisingly beat my sieging army (about half a stack). The other two armies landed, one including my prince Louis, and while one army was running around purposelessly waiting for time to pass so the Pope could commission another crusade, the prince captured Alexandria. My standing with the Pope at this point was high enough to ask for a crusade should the time come but this reduction of forces in mainland France, since I sent most of my troops away trusting my allies, lead to their taking advantage of the situation. The HRE attacked the small garrison in Metz and captured it, Milan came for Marseilles and got it, Spain bribed Zaragoza and conquered the poorly defended Valencia. At this point the annoying Council of Nobles wanted me to annex Caen and my diplomatic endeavors ended my alliance with the English. Just when I thought things were starting to look up as I got Metz back from the HRE, the English came for Paris. My king died defending his capital but to no avail. My army ready for Caen had to make a detour for Paris but got the job done. In the meantime, Portugal got a hold of Bordeaux losing it the next turn. I gave Alexandria to the Egyptians for a ceasefire and my army in the Middle East started to look for rebel settlements. Prince Louis who was governing Alexandria became King and is on his way back to show the Milanese the Marseilles Route. My army that reconquered Metz moved in onto Staufen and the HRE after losing that settlement decided to stay inactive even though we're still at war. Denmark's siege of Bruges and Milan's siege of Toulouse were aptly defended. I killed a Pope who was Milanese and hated my guts to elect a Venetian(my allies) Pope. This new Pope hates me too but I got London and intend to erase the English off the map. I have another army moving into the Iberian peninsula but I am not sure about this one. Spain has not done anything after it got Zaragoza and Valencia and the Portuguese are busy with the Moors, I guess. I am open to your suggestions for my next move since I tend make mistakes when I am excited for conquest.

[(---O---)]

I have been playing France for quite sometime now on M/VH and I have taken over entire Modern France, England, and Spain by now. I started out by taking rebel provinces making sure to have alliances with all of my neighbors and of course the pope. It is very important at the start of the game to avoid conquering certain provinces if you do not want to start war with your neighbors, for example whenever I conquered Antwerp I had the Danes attacking me even though we were allied. Same goes for provinces in Modern Spain, so try to avoid those at the start. My next step after conquering modern day France was to go for Britain.

The advantages of this strategy are many:
1. You only have to take Caen at the start and then the English cant attack
you because the AI does not cross the sea.
2. Britain is large enough to provide a decent income and the most easily defensible area of all, simply because there is no way the AI will attack it.
So if you capture it chances are you will keep it with and with minimal unit upkeep.
3. The English will probably already be engaged in a war with the Scots and they will be either occupied on two fronts or weakened from the conflict.

By having conquered Modern day France I was able to have about 4.5 full stack armies which I used as follows :

1. 3 Armies used to attack Britain one of which landed on Ireland and the other two landed near London.
2. half a stack was left guarding my borders with Spain
3. and the remaining army was left guarding my eastern borders.

With all the above armies I was left with a decent income with which to continue developing my empire.
I was able to conquer Britain quite easily because the English were already at war with the Scots and were losing. As a result I first eliminated the English and then destroyed the Scots making sure that I followed papal orders when he told me to take a break, which was actually useful at times because it gave me some time to regroup my armies and also my enemies usually did not hear papal orders and as a result were excommunicated.

Hint: make sure that you take Cagliari and the other island in the mediterranean and turn them into cities for a very nice and easy income and also you can use them as naval bases later on should you choose to go after Italy.

After I finished off with Britain I went after Spain with my Veteran armies from the British campaign. This was much more time consuming because for almost the same number of provinces (8 i think) Spain is at lease 3 times as big which makes it more difficult to obtain reinforcements and reach targets.

During my conquest of Spain a crusade was called in which I joined with a full stack army, but instead of rushing for Jerusalem and due to the fact that the Mongols had arrived I opted instead to take Cyprus first from the Byzantines because it is the ideal place from which you can proceed to launch raids on the entire eastern Mediterranean. By the time I arrived to Jerusalem the Danes had already taken the city. However using my now regular army I took over Acre, Antioch and then proceeded to Alexandria. Now I am preparing for war with the Mongols who have at least 12 full stack armies but seem to be stuck near Baghdad and wont do anything but sit there.

I look forward to trying a new technique against the Mongols where I will mostly use Serpentines against them in order to counter the fact that they mainly use archers. Also the best units I have used so far are the Scots guards which have the highest kill rate of all my units, including heavy cavalry, I am now trying to recruit Aventuriers which look like they can be even more effective. If any one has any tips on how to handle the Mongols please share your thoughts.

[Voltigers]

I guess being smack dab in the middle of all other European countries, France has the inevitable fate of total war. This gives the game its meaning but after awhile it got frustrating for me. At first I allied with all my neighbors so I could consolidate all of France and take any other rebel settlements bordering my faction. I allied with the Moors as well. The English didn't seem like a threat and I didn't want to reduce my standing with the Pope so they kept Caen but nothing else on the mainland. In the end of my rush for the rebs I even conquered Zaragoza and Valencia to the spite of Spain and Portugal, who were my allies. The HRE made a move for Metz but I pulled a fast one and sieged it before they did. Later with the help of reinforcements I got the settlement. When I saw Bruges and Antwerp I tried to get there before others but the garrison in Bruges proved to be stronger than I thought causing me to be too late for Antwerp.
After having stabilized my empire, the Crusade for Antioch was called by the Pope and having everyone else as allies I decided to send a couple of crusader armies in order to form another empire in the Middle East and finish the game without incurring upon myself the Pope's wrath. On the way I saw and conquered Cagliari and Ajaccio, turning the latter into a city. Two and a half armies were on their way past Crete when the news of Venice's success reached home and they were on the Holy Lands without a cause. I thought I could get Jerusalem but the Egyptians surprisingly beat my sieging army (about half a stack). The other two armies landed, one including my prince Louis, and while one army was running around purposelessly waiting for time to pass so the Pope could commission another crusade, the prince captured Alexandria. My standing with the Pope at this point was high enough to ask for a crusade should the time come but this reduction of forces in mainland France, since I sent most of my troops away trusting my allies, lead to their taking advantage of the situation. The HRE attacked the small garrison in Metz and captured it, Milan came for Marseilles and got it, Spain bribed Zaragoza and conquered the poorly defended Valencia. At this point the annoying Council of Nobles wanted me to annex Caen and my diplomatic endeavors ended my alliance with the English. Just when I thought things were starting to look up as I got Metz back from the HRE, the English came for Paris. My king died defending his capital but to no avail. My army ready for Caen had to make a detour for Paris but got the job done. In the meantime, Portugal got a hold of Bordeaux losing it the next turn. I gave Alexandria to the Egyptians for a ceasefire and my army in the Middle East started to look for rebel settlements. Prince Louis who was governing Alexandria became King and is on his way back to show the Milanese the Marseilles Route. My army that reconquered Metz moved in onto Staufen and the HRE after losing that settlement decided to stay inactive even though we're still at war. Denmark's siege of Bruges and Milan's siege of Toulouse were aptly defended. I killed a Pope who was Milanese and hated my guts to elect a Venetian(my allies) Pope. This new Pope hates me too but I got London and intend to erase the English off the map. I have another army moving into the Iberian peninsula but I am not sure about this one. Spain has not done anything after it got Zaragoza and Valencia and the Portuguese are busy with the Moors, I guess. I am open to your suggestions for my next move since I tend make mistakes when I am excited for conquest.

Soemhow I am feeling you are having a real good time, playing as France. Do tell me how you deal with the Mongols as french, because Mongols are too mobile as an army