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In the timeline AAR they were doing pretty well for themselves for about 200 years then the Netherlands and Spain ganged up on them. No one has yet done an AAR for France unfortueately, I suspect they would do well. The Geography does have to be a concern though, very important to make alliances obviously.
 
France does have more of a problem with geography than most countries, but its position isn't any worse than, say, Poland's, which can do quite well as Sapura's timeline AAR proved.
I'm sure the beta-testers have done a lot of work making certain that all of the 'major powers' in the campaign game are play-balanced, so if France doesn't seem to be doing well in the AARs, it must just be due to chance.
 
I'd be willing to bet that France would provide a player with many avenues towards victory points. Historically, France had a good presence in the New World and colonized large parts of Africa and a few chunks of Asia. They also have an good military tradition, and historical diplomatic finesse. So to me, France looks like a very flexible country to try.
 
I think there are three 'superpowers' in the game at the beginning Spain, France & the Ottomans. (No offense to your homeland Sapura but I think the enviroment that Poland is in is restictive to long term development than any of the above three.) I have noticed that the playtesters are ever the fans of the underdog, which makes them normal, and therefore they have avoided these three countries like the proverbial plague. Graham is the only one that has posted a AAR for these Spain about 3-4 months ago and the Ottomans 3 months ago, if I remember correctly.

For those of you concerned about play balance I don't think that the game will be balanced evenly. It would not be historical if it was. Each of the major nations has their respective strengths but as far as making sure everything is even out of the gate I don't think that is happening.
 
Thanks for the replies. I suppose that an argument could be made that France rather than Poland prospered in spite of long borders in large part because of political chance(Germany and Italy's disunity and Spain's distractions relieving pressure on France while the rise of Russia, Sweden and the Habsburgs doomed Poland), and I was curious if France would be in trouble any time it got too much attention from more than one neighbor.
 
while the rise of Russia, Sweden and the Habsburgs doomed Poland


Habsburgs weren't a threat to Poland, whatsoever, until the partitions. Infact the Poles defeated them in 1588. What doomed Poland was her geography, her exceedingly liberal govt 'golden freedoms', lack of centralized govt, at a time when absolutist monarchies were emerging all around her, a long with bankruptcy after long wars leading to the inability to maintain itself a military power <- the reason it had become a European power.

Sapura
 
Although every beta-tester has its favourite country, I think France is one of the most enjoyable country to play.
I begun a new GC with France this week-end.

A short summary:
My objective before starting: to get Calais from England, Roussillon, Franche Comté and Artois from Spain, peacefully annex Lorraine and Savoie and build a decent colonial Empire in Northern America and the Carribean.

1492 : Lorraine and Savoie cheerfully enter an alliance with France.
Perfidious England gangs up overtime with Portugal, the Hansa, Denmark and Navarra.
Spain on the other hand eventually allies with Scotland...

As Azincourt is still in the mind of many French generals, I decide to build my strength against Spain, fortifying the borders. Before some stupid councellor of my King advises him that it would be a great idea to order me to discover some far eastern province, I persuade him that keeping Béarn is The major aim for the next five years.

1498 : civil war in England! No, this is too good to be true. Englishmen killing other Englishmen, what a joyful sight for the Court. Battle plans are immediately drawn to take advantage of the situation. Spain can wait...
The navy is organised under Bidoux, my best admiral : 10 warships and 2 transports, that's not much but perhaps enough. The French army under Foix storms Calais and succesfully assault her. Bidoux enters the channel and an army of 14.000 soldiers immediately begins to embark. Some traitor surely sold the info to Albion, as a navy of 10 warships immediately arrives. Bidoux wins. Hé hé, tough time for England. The army lands in Kent and immediately besiege the city. In the same time, another load of 14.000 starts embarking. The French suddenly discovers a new English navy coming : 10 warships also. The battle is hard but Bidoux stays the master of the sea. He will surely receive gold and honnors for this second victory. With the reinforcements arrived, the city in Kent is stormed. The English insults my intelligence by proposing a white peace... I propose them a much better solution : annex Calais and Kent. Who can understand ? They refuse...
Meanwhile, Eire breaks free from England. As the diplomats were sent to negociate peace with England, nobody cares to send a diplomat to Eire to form an alliance. (Eire will ally with Spain and Scotland, and the foreign Minister is forced to resign: aprecious could-be ally is now engaged with our next enemy!).
At sea, the two English navies have grouped and Bidoux, facing 20 ships is forced to retreat to Caux. I must end this war soon, as I won't be able to land more troops in England now.
In order to teach the English a lesson, the French army moves north towards Anglia and London. With nearly no fortification, no army, London is captured. As Foix enters the royal palace, the English king proposes him a peace treaty : Kent and Calais are now French!
Well by 1501, it seems that my strategy is already changed. I have to go on agaisnt England, as they will want to regain Kent one day or the other. I have a temporary CB against England till 1540. I will use it. In order to have free hands with Spain, we approach the Spanish King with talks of marriage. THe affair is quickly done : Spain wanted this guarantee to attack Portugal.
Five years have passed (1506) and England has not yet recover from its civil war. I can't see any English army in Kent's neibouring provinces. As I haven't had money to invest in the navy, I must land enough troops there before their navy blockade the sea again.
Troops poor into Kent with Foix leading. France declares war against England. Now London has been fortified but having discovered artillery a few years before, the French cannons bombard the city and the assault is succesful. The English King cowardly fled London and proposes a white peace. 'Remember Jeanne d'Arc' answers Foix... Three other provinces west of London are captured and a small 10k English army in Bristol totally annihiliated by the French Cavalry and artillery. England agrees to give these two provinces to France.
Capturing London gives me the English Naval maps. They show a path to the new world which the Spaniards talk about. It's time to send an expedition. Excited by the thought of a 'New France' my beloved Monarch asks me to discover the gulf of Saint Law.
By 1512, I have discovered the coast of Newfoundland, Kebec. France starts with only one colonist and do not get any until 1560. My explorers tell me there is a small but pacifist native population in Kebec. They think there is two chances out of three that we can colonize this province. Let's go for it. 100 stout volunteers are readied to expand the glory of France beyond the Ocean...
A few months after their departure, words arrive that the settlement is succesful and the population is thriving. The first stone is laid. Moreover, this colony, with a port, is now a precious haven for explorers. I send them From Britany to Kebec. From there, they can explore with a wider range.
Encouraged bu this succes, the king asks to discover the Hudson bay, which is achieved by the trusted Verrazano a few months later.

Well well well. I can explore the new world at leisure, I don't have colonists to send, so I turn back my attention towards Europe. In order to tighten my grip on England, I would like to annex Cornwall and Wales. Now, the English have begun rebuilding their armies. Nothing very potent however. The third English war looks like the first two ones. I convince Navarra and Denmark not to mess in this affair after they decided abruptly to honnour their alliance with England. However, the stubborn Portuguese and Hansa refuses (their respective expeditionnary forces of 2k and 6k are utterly destroyed). London and three other provinces are captured (with higher losses this time) and Wales and Cornwall are mine... The ENglish maps I capture round Africa and discover all the eastern coast of the AMericas from Newfoundland to Terra del fuego: good prize!

The time is approx 1520, Lorraine is vassalized. Now what ? Our spies bring another good news: the Dutch are revolting against Spain. Great, but we have a royal marriage and declaring war would cost me so much stability that I don't dare do it. As God is with France, this marriage expires soon after. With all armies badly engaged in Netherlands, Spain is a good pray. Three armies are created with Foix and La Palice leading two of them. THe first one enters Roussillon and assault the city with succes. The second does the same with Franche Comté. My Lorraine allies assault Luxembourg. As my King has ordered to take Flandres, Foix marches to Antwerp, crushes the tired remnants of the Spanish city and assault the city that falls after a few tries. Spain begs for peace offering Rousillon and Flandres. I reject and ask for Franche Comté and Flandres. Agreed.

Now what ? England once again? I take a look and Oooops, there is a 75k army in London now. Time to reinforce my English provinces. Fortifications are raised and troops levied. I think that England is weakened enough like this, so I will keep on the defensive from now on with them.
In Netherlands, the incapable Spaniards cannot prevent the creation of independent Netherlands. It is all the more worrying that Spain is losing all ports. If they cannot reinforce against the Dutch, I face the dilemma to have a strong Netherlands right to my door (in Artois) in a few years.
This can't be. Our diplomats try to approach the Dutch to make theme enter our alliance but the proud bastards refuses. Whatever, I have to attack Spain once again: if the Spanish lo countries are doomed to disappear, let's make France have a nice piece of the cake.
War is declared in 1527, Roussillon is invaded again but against stronger Spanish opposition. Artois is captured, Luxembourg follows but a strong relief force in Roussilon beats La Palice who is forced to retreat to Languedoc. Reinforcements are sent in a hurry. Spaniards are defeated in Languedoc, and Roussillon once again captured. Spain sues for peace giving Roussillon and Artois. Luxembourg stays Spanish, all other former Spanish provinces are now incorporated in a powerfull Netherland.

Here begins a long period of peace for France which decides to develop it economy. Breweries are created, Paris becomes a center of culture with its famed fine arts academy. The navy, long forgotten benefits from investments in Naval Equipement manufactories and ships.
Now, a genius mind at the court, probably bored by peace takes a look at the map and sees the intact Aztec empire in Central America. Gorged with success, the French King supports the idea of an expedition there. WIth no conquistador, this is like a suicide mission but 'La fortune sourit aux audacieux' as we say, so 14 warships and 3 transports loaded with 15k infantry, 4k cavalery and 10 cannons embark for Central America.
Needless to say, after crossing the Ocean, some ships and men are missing. 12k infantry and 2k cavalry eventually arrive near the coast of the Aztec empire. The commander of this expedition lands its troops and declare war to the barbarians. The landing province is captured, a battle against 25k Aztecs won with some casualties. Another province and the capital provinces are captured by a seriously bled expedition. 6k infantry and 600 cavalry are still alive when the Aztecs decide to cede two provinces.
At the time we are battling the bloody Aztecs, Kebec revolts. This means that my navy has to cross back all the Ocean to Bretagne (only 6 warships and 1 transport will make it). 2 ships with 2k soldiers are brought to Kebec to retake it. From a level 2 colony, only 75 settlers are left.
Meanwhile, the honnorless Spaniards, well decided to avenge their European losses uses the right given to them by the Treaty of Tordesillas to attack one of my newly acquired province. They are only 2k but led by a skillful conquistador and my army is beaten. The Province on the Carribean sea is annexed by Spain as it wasn't even fortified. The Aztec expedition begins to look like a half failure...
THe other province on the Pacific Ocean is fortified, so I can begin rebuilding my strengths there. However, if I want to send reinforcement to this province, I will have either to round the Cape Horn or land troops in unoccupied provinces South of it and make them find their way through land to the province. Without a conquistador, this is rather hard to imagine.
Hopefully, France gets a first Conquistador, Bettencourt, who is sent to Central America with a medium force of 15k soldiers. The second campaign against the Aztecs is a success and the two remaining provinces are annexed. What riches ! These two provinces litteraly pour gold into the French treasure. But, as time will show, a big problem arises in the same time : inflation.
The Minister of Finance warns his majesty of it, but the poor man is nearly sentenced to deportation to Kebec. Paris swims in gold and it's no time for bad news bringers...
In 1540, Savoie is vassalized.

Here I am now. I am really wondering if conquering the Aztec empire was a good idea. Inflation is really VERY strong but as I still have no settler, the only way for colonial expansion is to attack existing nations (that is Incas, Aztecs and Iroquois). I should have gone for the Iroquois first I think...
 
Very interesting to see France doing well for once! Was there an actual Civil War in England at the beginning of the GC with Royalists and 'English' or simply normal, if large-scale, rebellions? Also, what difficulty level are you playing at?
 
Thank you very much for cranking up a French AAR. Interesting seeing how the French work. I must say I liked the move againist the Spanish when the Netherlands revolted. I suspect that will be a standard move for all French players.

Why do you have no colonist as the French. Are colonist issued on some kind of schedule?
 
A Bonus AAR, thanks, yndwnwal! - Now this is a random event that I didn't expect to see when this thread was started a few days ago!

It seems that you've got a huge jump on the game, congratulations. I was surprised that Kebec revolted against you, since they were your countrymen, with the same relgions and so forth... can you discuss why you think it happened?
 
Originally posted by Matthew Wallhead:
If the latest patches are added it will be interesting to see how both France and England fair. Both have had their leaders revised somewhat, and anti-expansion measures have been inserted into the early period.
I noticed that France seems to immediately and successfully seize parts of England in a lot of the Grand Campaign AARs. Hopefully, this patch will fix it.
 
Taking two hours of worktime to write an AAR is a thing I cannot make everyday :D
But mid august is deadly quiet in France...

Dark Knight: Normal civil war in England. Playing at normal difficulty with AI aggressiv (too easy now I concede)

Dragon: stabbing Spain in the back is a must for every French player! France, as a catholic country, does not get colonists before 1560 except by random event.

Jiminov: Kebec revolted because of war exhaustion and a drop in stability by declaring war on Aztec with no CB. It had only 1% chance to revolt. Shit happens sometimes.

Dark Knight again: I went against England because of the opportunity offered by their civil war. If I could have got Calais only without landing in Britain, I would have gladly done so. But the peace system is so that it is very difficult for France to get Calais by solely controlling it. You have to seize other English provinces to force it to accept a peace resolution giving you Calais. But when you are in Britain, you try to take the best of it, therefore the annexation of Kent and the subsequent English wars. However, if England had grouped its anvies earlier, I would never had had the opportunity to land in Kent...

The time is now 1634 and France leads the race.

In the British isles, Scottland waged war against England, annexing at a time two provinces but losing them 15 years later, while having one of its provinces annexed by Portugal (see below about Portugal). I finally attacked England twice more to annex all its provinces save Anglia and driving them out of North America :D

Low countries: Netherlands was too much succesful in its colonization and expansion in Germany (Cologne annexed). When I realized I had over 125k Dutch armed to the teeth at my northern frontier (30k men there) I decided it was pure provocation. Three years to prepare war in Europe and North America, 18 months to win, but at a real high cost (over 40k infantry, 10k cav and 100 cannons lost). Another war before Netherland could recover and they had only two provinces in Europe. Their trade posts in North America were burned and replaced by French colonies. I think a third war is necessary 1. to get Cologne 2. to get two North American colonies that bother me and one trade post in the Antillas (ah, sugar). The Dutch have discovered the whole world, and I got their maps...

SOuth France : eventually annexed Savoie diplomatically. Facing a trade refusal from France, Genoa declared war on it. They got annexed despite their Italian allies pillaging Savoie... The Franco-spanish border is quiet. As my monarch ordered me to annex Milan I did so (they had no allies, it was quick and dirty). My relations with the catholic world are abysmal (-200) I could not reconduct my alliance with Bavaria and only Muslim nations ask me for alliances ! !

Iberia: Spain is constantly at war with some one, without much success. Their colonial empire is getting weird. As they are at war with large coalitions, a lot of small countries have got territories overseas now!
Portugal, reduced to its sole capital succeeded in peacefully annexing the Hansa, making it a quite strong power in North Germany (and allowed it to annex a scottish province)

Scandinavia: I do not follow precisely what happens there, but Sweden is getting munched by the Danes, the Teutonic order and Russia. The Danes are very active on the colonial level (approx 8-10 trade posts in America and Africa)...

Central Europe is a mess as always. Austria is now two separated blocks of province, both landlocked, but they somehow managed to get trade posts in Africa (peace resolution with Turkey or Venice I think)! Russia has nearly reached the black sea.

Africa: nearly all provinces have a trade post and it is a complete mess. There are Portugal and Dutch, but also Venetian, Poles, Prussian (!), Knights, Papal, Turkish and Teutonic provinces ! ! !

America: North America is widely French. The northern coast of Canada is... Venetian save one Dutch colony, one Prussian trade post and one colony, two Danish trade posts. The East coast is French save two Scottish trade posts. The south (Texas, louisiana, FLorida is 50/50 Spanish and French, 40/50 for the West Coast with some Dutch, Papal and Knightly presence there...
Central America: 4 aztec provinces are now French plus one other. Lots of Spanish, some Danes, Scots and Dutch also. South America is 50% Spanish, 20% Portuguese and the rest is a patchwork of minor European provinces.
The Carribeans are 80% Spanish, 15% French, 5% Dutch.
Note that all provinces in North and Central American are colonized, whereas South america has still some unexplored areas and the Incas are still alive but nearly completely annexed by the Spanairds.
Pacific: I recently went in from Central America, establishing colonies in Hawai along the English, Tahiti, Fidji and quite recently Australia and New Zealand. Portugal has loads of trade posts in Indonesia and England in India.
Note that most of these colonies and trade posts are not developped. Level 1 trade posts flourish, but hey are so easily burned that this situation can change any time.
Real colonies are present in North/Central America, but except for former Aztec provinces, my biggest city (Kebec) has a little more than 1000 inhabitants. The race was to place the borders, but I do not have enough colonists to develop strong cities yet.
 
yndenwal,
Thanks for the update. I have a hypothetical question for you...

You mention that Portugal is down to its single capital province on the coast of the Iberian province. However, they do have several colonies overseas as well as the vassal Hansa provinces in Northern Europe. What would happen if the capital province is captured?

I'm curious if the capital of Portugal would shift to the Hansa capital. I'd also like to know what happens to the overseas colonies if the home country is captured... do they become the property of the conquorer or do they become independent (or is it a mix of the two)?

Merci beaucoup pour l'information et AAR. :)
 
This does seem a bit easy for you. Still, interesting to see the Pope, the Knights of Malta, and the Teutonic Knights colonizing Africa (if only the Knights Templar still existed). England shouldn't have to lose other provinces before accepting the loss of Calais, though; that certainly isn't historical.
 
Really liked the update on the colonies. Excellent to see all the little powers making their way to the New World.

Keep in mind Dark Knight they are toning down the English and the French leadership in the next update (if I remember correctly) and that should change up things a bit.
 
I dont know if this has been up before, I haven´t written here for several months..But
Isn´t there anyway to increase the amount of settlers you got? I´ve read many AAR´s and in too many of them they don´t get any settlers. I know that EU is going to be as historical it can be, but still there are many choises you can make that is a long way from whatever country you play did in history so why not a option to invest in more settlers.
 
Jiminov:
Portugal is a major power and as such cannot be fully annexed, its capital will always remain (just as Anglia remains English). So you can capture the province to force a peace but cannot annex it. For minor power, if you control all their cities and annex the country, then you will also get all overseas tradeposts (note that 'colonies (ie overseas province with a city) must be controled).

Dark Knight: yep this has become too easy at normal difficulty level. The game is now by 1680 and I will probably not continue as I don't see who could stand against me save perhaps Spain.

Dragon: all those little powers are annoying ;) Polish Réunion and Mahé and Prussian Malouines (= Falklands). Do you believe this?

Snapphane: I have to check the rules for settlers (have been modified several times along the beta test). Religion is one factor, then at a time (I am not sure it is still the case) conquistador and shipyards would give extra colonists...
 
yep this has become too easy at normal difficulty level.

That's what happens when you play France, England, Spain or Turkey. No challenge. Tsk tsk. ;)