The French
Thought I'd try out the French, so put some thoughts here. I never played the French before, but it looks a lot like the standard game, so perhaps the only interesting information is their custom units anyways.
FRENCH - HIGH
The French start out in an interesting position. They are sandwiched between the restive but powerful HRE on the east and the aggressive English on the west. They have access to both the North Sea and the Mediterranean from the very beginning, making naval power across the continent a possibility, though the fact that their land is a long thin strip means you have borders everywhere. The French lands are also rich in farming, and potential for trade especially Flanders). You will probably find yourself pulling in 3k+ florins a turn early on without any trouble. However, while you have some nice units available to you from the very beginning of the game, and two decent generals, you do not have facilities to build much of anything anywhere except Ile de France. So, it will be a while before you can turn all that money into an army. The English are not likely to let you rest in the meantime, so a balance will be required. The English are not going to like a French naval presence in the English Channel, so if you start building navies there, expect a war soon.
GETTING STARTED
France, to my knowledge, is one of the few places that has a crusade house right from the beginning. So first thing to do (recommended at least) is to build a crusade marker. Your King has five stars, which is good, since he belongs in the capitol and you can't afford to lose Ile de France. There is a four-star general in Champagne; you can make him 6 stars by making him duke of Ile de France and Chancellor. Now you need some units. You should build a combination of Norman Knights, Norman Foot Knights (focus on these, you get the valor bonus), French men-at-arms, and arbalesters (a couple at least). This should do you well. You should start teching up the other provinces right away; some of them do not even have a fort, and none of them can build anything more advanced than militia sergeants (and only Toulouse can even do that). You can build catapults in Flanders, and ships in both Flanders and Toulouse, so you can get started on a navy immediately if you like. You should also build up trade soon.
Most of the rest is very similar to a standard game (I think, I never played the French non-XL either, but the starting position is similar). The English are not likely to give you any peace, so you don't have much choice but to face them eventually... if you build up enough troops you can keep a hostile ceasefire going but that seems to be about it. The Germans won't ally with you normally, but they aren't agressive either. Aragon is for the most part a neutral observer that mostly serves to keep the Spanish and Almos off of you (at least, until you send a crusade to Valencia or Granada).
SPECIAL UNITS
The French special units are, as expected, in the traditional chivalric arms of sword and lance.
French Men-at-Arms - A slightly less effective Chivalric Men-at-arms. 3/3/3/4/6 (French MAA) vs. 3/4/3/4/7 for CMAA. Slightly cheaper, same build requirements, you decide. I like them, but that's 'cause they look French.
Norman Knights - The Norman Knights are a more interesting and useful addition to the French roster (though, if I am not mistaken, the English get them too). Slightly better melee and morale, while lower defense and armor - 8/5/3/4/9 to the CK's 8/4/5/6/8 (and slightly better than FKs as well... which are 8/4/3/4/9). Same requirements as FKs.
Norman Foot Knights - The foot knight equivalent. You will probably use these a lot. They also come in larger unit sizes than CFKs... a full unit of CFKs is 40, while a full unit of NFKs is 60 (the CKs and NKs are the same). You get a valour bonus for these in Ile de France as well, so take advantage of that.
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