Easy France

[BloodAsp]

Hi,

I am thinking about moving to playing France, and since I am lazy and have no scruples, then I have to ask:
What is the EASIEST, and most cheeseastic way to play France?

 

[Cpt.Cross]

Make nothing but 20W inf to hold the line, fighters and CAS, go down the air support focus tree and hold the Line against Germany till they're out of planes then you can use the inf and your air superiority to push,

If you dont join the allies you can keep the land in europe for yourself and form the EU at the end of the War.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

If you refuse Rhineland and get civil war you can beat down Germany before it picks up any more territory or gets a significant army advantage, and in this ahistorical scenario there's no going around the Maginot for years.

 

[Spelaren]

Rush the napoleon focus tree, conquer Britain while doing a naval landing in Canada, puppet or annex both, then attack america through canada with cavalry. Gratz, you now got the two biggest navies in the world as your puppets.

 

[squid_hills]

Go fascist and join the Axis. Seriously, that's like 83% of your problems gone right there. In the Axis, you won't have to worry about Germany or Italy invading you, so you can concentrate on building up your Atlantic defenses in preparation for Sea Lion. In fact, a properly prepared France can capitulate the UK with a well-executed invasion, and grab more war score from Germany. All you'll have to really worry about is your territories in Africa that border the UK's holdings, and Indochina (the Burmese part of the Raj shares a tiny border with Indochina, which can lead to a surprise loss of tungsten and rubber if you aren't watching it. Also, Japan has a National Focus that lets them demand Indochina from you. It takes them a while to get to it, so a good France/Germany/Italy alliance should have the UK capitulated and be hip-deep in the USSR by the time it becomes an issue.

 

[BloodAsp]

Fascist France looks easy enough
Who becomes nat leader after you switch? Petain?

 

[Harin]

Hi,

I am thinking about moving to playing France, and since I am lazy and have no scruples, then I have to ask:
What is the EASIEST, and most cheeseastic way to play France?

This video explains in a fun way the cheesiest way to win as France.

French Cheese and Chocolates

 

[alh_p]

I've been playing a few France campaigns recently. Depending on your experience, it will be a challenge!

I confirm this is the easiest:

Make nothing but 20W inf to hold the line, fighters and CAS, go down the air support focus tree and hold the Line against Germany till they're out of planes then you can use the inf and your air superiority to push

Although to make even that work you need to sort out your domestic politics and your horrendous supply shortage - which will quickly become a monstrous manufacturing deficit vs Germany + Italy. France's military is in such a mess you have too many men enlisted in under-supplied divisions - it doesn't have enough rifles for them. The armour divisions are also awful so there's a lot of tidying to do (briefly: delete all the ~10 width brigades coloniales and pure ARM divisions).

To help your turtling, you'll want to fortify your borders. There is a focus path which gifts you free forts across the Alps and extending the Maginot to the Sea, but you'll need to build more forts for a defensible line than the free ones alone (they add +3 fort level in each province) and ideally aim for 6+ on the extended Maginot. I actually put level 8 forts in certain points (where borders are with 2+ enemy provinces, e.g. Sedan) in the extended Maginot. The AI won't attack level 6 forts in Mountains or level 8 on the flat of the extended Maginot. Then again, you may not want to "peacefully" camp - so you could have lower fort levels.

It's also possible to not use the focus tree for this fortifying. It's a harder starting option where you'll need 12 months+ of 100% fort building for your civy factories before the war starts, but a more fun one for later as you can get more armour/motorised and mech bonuses. Nothing beats hammering the Nazis/Axis as France with your own armoured divisons under LeClerc, Juin and DeGaulle!

 

[UncleAlias]

In my latest game, I went:

• Reject Rhineland
• Go ASAP to Little Entente and get as many people in as you can
• 20W infantry galore, add some fort in the Alps and a full army in defense
• Reject Munich, Germany DOWs Czechoslovakia and presto! you're at war – along with pretty much all of Central Europe (plus the UK)
• Crush Germany (did so in January 1939); clean up the other, minor Axis nations (Italy, possibly Hungary)
• NOW focus on improving your economy, get these sweet extra research slots, reform your army and your state (I went down the Léon Blum path)
• Soviet Union will probably attack you in the next few months anyway
• But now you have friends and tons of factories
• Crush the USSR
• In the meantime, you'll probably be at war with Japan as well
• Build a navy
• Crush Japan
• La fin.

 

[BloodAsp]

So I decided to play first time WITHOUT youtube guides
Soo many things to do, not enough time.

Decided on 2 crowns as it offered chance to get some extra land and army exp. Got myself monarch, I am no longer democracy, why I am getting these stupid partisan popups? OMFG!!!! I am no longer democracy, so I am not allowed to use local autonomy policy. So it switched automatically to FREAKING NO GARRISONS!!!
PARADOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Switched back, quelled unrest, Europe explodes into war. I stay in the back eating popcorn - ha ha, look at these losers. Hitler takes Bel, HOL, Lux, poor Poland falls - I am planning to back stab him when Barbarossa starts (BTW I have like 40 divisions :/). Then during random clicks around monitor I notice that Germany is finishing War with France focus........................................................................
UPS.....................................................................................................................................
And I still have Victors of the great war
UPS......................................................................................................
3 days after I manage to redeploy my armies Germany DOWs me
+ I managed to hold longer than historical France (4 months)
- Wehrmacht turned my divisions into kebab

 

[kettyo]

If i see Britain going Axis monarchy i'd certainly follow them too