Rhye's and Fall of Civilization - French strategy
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Guide on Monarch level
Overview
Playing as France you have enemies all around you. There are 3-4 major rivals that you will always have to be on guard against throughout the games that may try take over your homeland: Germany (the biggest threat), Spain (another siginficant threat) and the two somewhat lesser threats of England and (if still around) Rome.
While your unique historical victory goals may not seem that daunting in and of themselves ( Build 3 Wonders: Notre Dame, Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower.- Make Paris the world's #1 cultural city by 1700AD - Colonize Quebec and Louisiana) the trick will be to balance those goals with protecting or even extending your base in Europe. Another key aspect will be maximizing the benefits of your unique power, which is often overlooked by many players. Making the most out of France's strengths at diplomacy while always being prepared for war, should it emerge, will be the basis for a winning game as France; a country right in the middle of a crowded Europe.
Opening Moves
Paris is founded on the spot. Although Paris and for that matter, most of France, is not a good production site, it is in a good defensive position sandwiched between two rivers. You should have at least two additional cities as a result of the cultural slip either from the Romans or the Barbs, so don't waste any units attacking them. Your most important goal here is to find a good production site to build your army and even your wonders, without such a city you leave your empire open to attack from the enormous industrial potential of Germany.
I recommend founding either Aix La Chapelle or Metz just west of the Rhine. This will give you access to iron and stone and will make powerful centres of production. Beware: if you settle east of the Rhine, the city will likely flip over to the Germans. So unless you to want to lose a valuable location or face an early war with Germany, it is best to settle west of the river. Another good production site is Northern Italy. Either Milan or Rome will make excellent choices. Whoever is controlling these cities at the time won't matter much; if it's barbs they should easily be defeated, if it's Rome they will most likely be backwards compared to France. In both situations, the cities are open to you to conquer and if you can take them they are certainly recommended.
The case for Constance
Insert by Pacifist
So I started replaying France (in Monarch mode, since I won easily in Viceroy before) last night. Could not for the love of God get Germany to not declare war on me. Then it dawned on me that it's all because of Mainz which is stealing all productivity from me and being dangerously close to my border, and the automatic flipping to Germany when they spawn, no matter what I call the city. So I figured that, thankfully I spawn earlier than the Germans, and I have enough troops to raze Morgunticum/Mayence/Mainz (with the loss of 1 swordsman) and found a city west of the Rhine which will not flip to the Netherlands when they spawn (which Aix-la-Chapelle did). Constance (which is the city on the stone) is perfect: 1. it's just in Switzerland, so Germany can't flip it, and it's south enough to avoid the Dutch. 2. it has access to the iron and even the pig 2 tiles east (which is perfect for growth and productivity). Plus another stone doesn't hurt building the Notre Dame. 3. it's farther away from Paris than Aix-la-Chapelle so that they don't overlap, and yet their combined culture (with the help of the Sistine Chapel) is enough to push the Netherlands' cultural border just 1 tile south of Amsterdam. 4. it helped me flip Milan culturally early, which opens the way for Rome (i.e. closes the gap where Germany can pass through and conquer Rome). It's 1550 and I have not had a single war with Germany (who's pleased with me despite a -5 border). At the cost of 1 measly swordsman I've avoided 800 years of war with Germany. I'm prepared though for anything they can throw at me (with all that iron and stone)...
Be on warning again however, do not make the mistake I made with having the Italian cities to be your only good production sites, there is always the danger of the Italian flip or a successful appeal via the World Congress, that is why Aix La Chapelle is recommended. You want at least one good industrial city firmly in French hands, within the confines of the historical boundaries of France with little to no competition.
Insert by RagduI
I was playing the other night when i discovered instead of Mayence like it normally is it was Bona Mansio, and instead of Milan there was Venetia. Weird
Vive Paris!
Your first historical objective is to make Paris the #1 cultural city in the world. Within Europe, this should be relatively easy. Just by constructing a few cultural buildings you should be the most cultured city in Europe. Therefore your main competition will be the far older cities in the East; namely, Beijing and Delhi. You can check the progress of these cities by looking at the Top 5 cities screen.
I recommend going for Music and Drama straight away as this will give you the opportunity to build culture, theatres, and Notre Dame. By building the required wonder Notre Dame in either Paris or another city, it should make for a good base in creating Great Artists. Theatres will also give you this ability. So whether your GA turns up in Paris or another city just send them to Paris to create a Great Project as remember the goal requires you make Paris, not France overall, as the #1 cultural city.
How many GA's you need depends entirely on the kind of game you have. In my experience, 1 Great Artist can sometimes put France in the lead, 2 should do it in most games, however there was one game where I had an uber-Delhi and needed a whopping 3 Great Artists in Paris to outdo it. Remember that you always have the option to Build Culture or increase your culture rate if it starts getting tight, but in most games a couple GA's should be more than enough.
Caste System may be useful here for turning out those GA's, especially in Paris with that awesome food production. And save some Great Engineers so that you can build those 3 wonders at one stroke (in case you find yourself being warred against).
Foreign Policy: Europe and Beyond...
Ah, dipomacy. We will split diplomacy up in two parts: the good part and the rough. We will start with the rough, that being Europe. As mentioned, you do have potential adversaries all around you. That means that it will be crucial to wisely pick and choose who you want as your allies and you will always be an enemy. Naturally, this will vary from game to game, but in general, I have found Russia to be a useful ally while Germany is likely to always be a civ to keep your eye on. Be aware that despite having the same religion and despite being on good diplomatic terms, an attack from a European neighbor, especially Germany, will always be a possibility. This is historically accurate but it also means that you can never let your guard down.
England seems to be a wild-card civ. There have been games where she loves me and games where she hates me. In either case unless you are very weak, England will most likely be a naval rival and colonial rival but not seriously threaten your homeland in the same way that a Spain or Germany might. As for Spain, they are another tricky civ to deal with and I have almost always had an early war with them. In a crowded Europe, it is best to always be aware of the diplomatic situation and be on the look out for opportunities to crush or weaken a potential rival. For example, if Russia and Germany go to war and you are enemies of Germany, it may be a good time to declare war on Germany. Not only will this help weaken Germany but it will also develop your relationship with Russia as well. With Europe being as congested as it is, even taking 1 city from rival could seriously disrupt its ability to compete with you in the future. Even pillaging its economy and resources without taking a city could damage its capability for years to come. So keep that all in mind when conducting warfare.
Now for the good stuff. This is where France's Unique Power comes into play: your diplomatic relations with the non-European world. Your UP means that you will have much friendlier relations with those countries then your rivals will... so use that to your advantage. Whether you want Open Borders for lucrative trade routes, another powerful ally in your campaign against a rival civ, say Arabia, or access to a lucrative colony that no civ can get to without going through another civ's land territory all this and more is possible with your UP. In fact, you may be the only civ that is able to get an Open Borders agreement with tightly-guarded Japan.
The Wonders
As long as you are technologically on par (at least) you should have no trouble in building those 3 wonders. The stone and iron at Bordeaux and Aix la Chapelle should give you a good start with building the Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower. As for the Statue of Liberty, this requires bronze which is not found in either Aix La Chapelle area or Italy. Luckily, it is found just east of Quebec. Which gives you further incentive to colonize that area and being that is one of your UHV requirements, why not? Just remember that as you can afford to lose some of your other colonies you build, Quebec you must attempt to hold on to at all costs, at least until the Statue is built.
If you beeline to Music and start building Notre Dame in one of your cities immediately, you should easily complete it before anyone else. In fact, I have never lost Notre Dame to anyone when beelining straight to Music. You might even want to hold off on chopping down too many forests for a tougher wonder later on or when you need an army fast.
But what if I'm building a wonder and someone attacks me?!?
This situation may very well happen so prepare for it. Even expect it. Best way to be prepared is to have a decent sized-army with a few catapults or trebuchets handy at cutting down the strength of an opposing army stack that comes nearby. The good news is that as France, you won't have that many cities in Europe to defend with so it's not hard to keep track of them, get those cultural bonuses and place a few good units in each one of your cities. Not that you have to be completely defensive either..as they say the best defense is a good offense! But again be careful, you don't want a two front war so plan out which civs are likely to side with whom. You want at least 1 civ who you can count on to support you if the going gets tough.
Needless to say however, defending your country is your biggest priority. If that builds halting production of your wonder so be it. Not only can you afford not losing any of your core cities, but you cannot afford having your towns and improvements razed either. It will take a long time before they are brought back to their pre-existing levels and by that time, you may be hopelessly behind in the tech race. Therefore do not think of your cities as the first line of defense but rather the natural borders of France. The Pyrenees and the Rhine are good spot to place a couple units with to guard against Germany and Spain. Even if you plan on being aggressive militarily it is still a good idea to keep a couple defensive units around as guardians of your core empire.
Conclusion
Playing France is a balancing act; between war and peace, culture and military, colonizing lands abroad while keeping a watchful eye at home. Going too far in any one direction without taking care of the other aspects could prove disastrous. It is not like playing Egypt where you can pretty much forget about military and just build culture nor is it like playing a warmongering civ like Mongolia where you are just conquering everyone. Recall that you must build,not simply control those 3 wonders a la Persia. I would rate France as a somewhat challenging, intermediate civ that certainly has its challenges particularly if facing an uber-Germany. Having either expansion does make playing France a little easier as Germany is much less over-powered in a more crowded Europe than it is with all of Central Europe at its feet.
France's Unique Power can be very useful but unfortunately, many players tend to overlook diplomacy completely or pay much less attention to it than it deserves. Securing the right aggrement with a certain civ can reap multiple benefits. Whether it is a military ally, greater income or right of passage the possiblities cannot be overlooked. One final piece of advice on this is adopting the civic Free Religion. Besides this being one of my personal favorite civics, as France it takes on an added bonus of being just about the only major obstacle, short of war, that would stop you from having good relations with the non-Euro world. In fact, you may be the only European civ with a good relationship with Arabia should the conventional game emerge with a Christian Europe and an Islamic Middle East.
Overall, this is a civ that suits the player who likes a little bit of everything in his game and it's a great civ for honing in on your diplomatic skills. It can be very tempting to get caught up with all the wars and intrigues in Europe and forget about the requirements in your UHV. So the hardest part may be staying on task and focusing on your goals while your pursue other policies in the meantime. With a little bit of discipline, paying due attention to creating a respectable (if not feared) army, making friends where needed, and finding a couple good production sites to match that of your rivals, you should be well on your war to having a successful game as the mighty French Empire!
BTS Emperor strategy
by Pacifist
Much of the above is true. The only differences are the following:
1. Beeline for Engineering (which is now the tech for Notre Dame). Whip it in Paris ASAP (the happiness will more than compensate for any harm from losing 6 population, and Paris can double in size quickly).
2. Raze Mainz as above and build Constance. Try to build University of Sankore there after bulbing Paper, for this will give you enough culture to push Amsterdam and Berlins culture away. It may be occasionally demanded by Germany in a conference; if so, just do something different the turn before (like signing defensive pacts) and maybe they'll ask for a Russian city instead. Also, do not build any roads in the 2 hills east of Constance (to make it much harder for German military to pass through).
3. Capture Milan and Rome ASAP (whip 2-3 catapults and swordsmen). You have to catch Rome by surprise because otherwise they'll start whipping out longbowmen. Once you get Rome your science will be set for life, and you'll build both the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower there (in about 16 turns for the former and 10 turns for the latter, helped by lots of specialists). Rome can also encompass the copper that's in the western Balkans if it has enough culture which helps with building the Statue. Just make sure to keep Rome happy (e.g. by opera house) so that it won't flip. And DO NOT build any cities in southern Italy (make is much more likely that Rome will spawn as a civ). Instead build Tunis in Carthage's spawn site, raze nearby Regio Tripolitana (which is a waste of space), and it'll turn into a productive city. Guard it with pikemen against barbarian camel archers.
4. Switch to Pacifism soon and get tons of great spies, scientists and engineers. Since you'll be behind while beelining to Democracy first, use some of the GS and GP for bulbing some techs.
5. Once you've built your cities in America, give them to somebody friendly (I liberated them to America who became my vassal because I was first in score).
6. Settle some great spies in the civs that have the prerequisite techs for the 2 later wonders. You can sabotage the cities that are building YOUR wonders (it's usually England, Netherlands or Spain). You may be able to steal some techs too.
7. Most of all, avoid war with Germany and Spain if possible until late, and sign defensive pacts with everybody (Netherlands, Vikings, Russia). Switch to Theocracy and HR early and with the Christian brotherhood Spain will usually like you. Germany usually beelines for military techs so make sure you use your hard won cultural techs to exchange for gunpowder and military tradition. Physics and airships will help.
8. The Paris cultural goal is not hard as long as you have a Christian temple/monastery/cathedral, National Gallery, and maybe settle a great artist.
You'll get at least a Simon Bolivar score in the late 1700's or early 1800's.
The neo-Frankish empire (AKA how to expand east of the Rhine) (BTS 1.18)
by Pacifist
Move 1st settler 1 block east of Amsterdam's future location and found Breme on 2nd move as your capital, and let 2nd settler stay put in Paris (but not founding it yet until after Breme). Raze Frankfurt (which is now east of former Mainz) and found either Constance (on the stone) before Netherlands spawns. (Constance is best since Venice is now east and you can take the sheep and trees east; the cultural borders with Germany are "natural" and if you play nice Germany will be nice to you too). Found Brest on the western tip. Paris can easily be the most cultured city in the world with both Notre Dame and Sistine Chapel built in Breme and 2 great artists sent to Paris. Both Rome and Venice are very difficult to capture so it is best to leave it alone until Notre Dame is built. Tag along with the German army passing through your territory to Rome and maybe you'll get lucky and capture both cities after they've done the hard work with cannon.
Since Netherlands will appear southeast of Breme, they cannot move to a spot where they can found a city (since you didn't open borders with them, they can't move unless they declare war on you). Willem is a wimp (at least in Monarch) so he won't declare war. He'll try to implore you to open borders and just say no to him. All those Dutch units will sit on the cow and eventually they'll just collapse and disappear. If by any chance you didn't have time to found Brest, the Dutch units may flip all the way to Brittany and found a city; if that is the case, open borders with them. Because there's no space to found a city, they'll just sit there.
By building the 3 wonders I could have finished in 1700 with half the world being my vassals (Khmer, Egypt, Spain, Aztec, Inca, Mali), controlling 25% of world pop and 13% of world territory, or I could have developed this into a domination win (since I could have gotten nukes by 1800). Germany will be hemmed in on both east and west, and will likely be Russia's vassal if you didn't erase them from history first. My culture was so strong I nearly flipped Oslo and England collapsed under my cultural weight.
This is possibly the only case where a spawning civ can be prevented from ever founding a city (due to lack of space).
The 1st French Empire (1000 years earlier)
Switch to HR/slavery/vassalage and either OR or Theocracy (latter might be better). Found Breme, Paris and send all troops west of future Berlin after capturing Bona Mansio (becomes Frankfurt), ideally losing only 1 swordsman in doing so. Frankfurt builds a warrior which will sit on the stone. Workers chop trees and helps Breme whip a promoted catapult. When Germany appears with their stack, sacrifice your catapult and take out the German troops one by one. Raze Berlin. When Frankfurt asks to flip, allow them and recapture it with your warrior. Send settlers out all over Germany and play it like Germany: capture Rome/Venice in the 1500's, collapse Spain and you'll have Napoleon's empire in the 1600's at the latest. Take on Russia if you want to. (Rhye will probably fix this exploit soon).
The 2nd French Empire (v 1.184)
Now that Rhye has fixed the Breme squat and made the Germans harder to kill, you need to expand to Spain. You have more than enough troops to take out the 4 longbows and 2 swords that Spain starts with, and if you hire the few mercenaries and whip a catapult from Bordeaux (which sometimes has a barracks no less, making it doubly promoted), you should get Madrid and Toledo in no time. Realize that by the time you spawn, the Spanish will not have enough time to improve the iron, and the AI is stupid enough to try to make longbows which take forever to build. I usually raze Valencia because it crimps Madrid's production. Found Paris and Constance, or if you want to have a little more protection against Dutch and German culture, found Metz (1W of the stone) as your capital and get Paris as an afterthought (remember it does not need to be your capital, just a bombed great artist will achieve the 1700 goal). In fact I built the Forbidden Palace/Versailles in Paris. Your second settler you can either send Budapest (to completely lock the Germans from Rome) or Copenhagen (to deprive them of a good seaport and protect against them founding Hamburg or Kiel, which takes away Metz's tiles). Madrid is a great production site and should be able to built Notre Dame in 6 moves and Statue of Liberty in about 10-14 turns if you have copper from the Incans. Make sure you built La Coruna or Santiago before the Portuguese appear and stack some troops around them, and they'll want to vassalize in no time if you play nice, i.e. Lisboa will be reduced to 1 tile. Rome as usual needs to be conquered. Liberalism can net you Democracy, or even Physics and Electricity; just research it up to the last move and if somebody beats you to it, reload and get the most expensive tech you can by resuming Liberalism research. The rate-limiting factor is the Eiffel Tower, so save a Great Engineer for it.
