....Got stomped as France. Need tips. This is sad.

[Katakakes]

Got a lot of hours into this game, usually like playing the underdogs. But this time I wanted to play France with the intent of colonizing.

• Win 100 years war against England, take back everything but Calais (the province that's over the border in Burgundy), because Provence occupied it instead.

• Let the war exhaustion come down, while my two diplomats annex and improve relations with my vassals.

• Comes first idea. I decide Aristocracy as the diplomat will be handy and lower mil tech cost is very nice, also because I didn't want to sacrifice an idea slot on Diplomacy as I don't see much use to it as I'm gonna focus more on colonialism. Probably my first mistake.

• Aragorn wants an alliance? Well... okay I guess. Probably my second mistake.

Meanwhile, I turn my heads towards Provence, whom allied itself with Hungary and Savoy. Sure, I can take them on. Fabricate a claim on Savoy as well so I can get something out of them since we're gonna go to war anyway.
Declare war on Provence, Reconquest of Maine and Anjou. Hungary never comes to the rescue, why? Personal union under Austria.

• Wipe the board, take Savoie, Anjou, Maine AND Provence. Coalition formed, Burgundy, Austria, Tuscany Siena.

• Wait a couple of years, coalition is gone, eyeing Brittany, whom allied themselves with England. Not much of an issue, I prepare my troops, raise maintenance AND...

....BURGUNDY DECLARES WAR, calls in Castille. Well shitaki mushrooms. Good thing maintenance is at max. 40k troops headed for the capital. Okay! No problem! Let's find some river crossings and......they wipe the board with me. My vassals decided to carpet siege Castille instead, Aragorn is getting destroyed as are my vassals, Burgundy took Defensive Ideas and are 1 military tech ahead by a couple of months so they have better tactics and morale.

Couple of months pass, I lose more battles, win a big one, check the ledger as I thought, they're winning but my manpower is much higher AND.... EUIV crashes.

Anyway, if you read all the way down here... any tips on playing France if you want to colonize? I can't rely on the king of Burgundy dying in all of my games.

 

[Katakakes]

I'm gonna form Russia for the 21th time to make me feel better. ;_;

 

[long_fella]

Take other nations' colonies by force.

 

[ceteris.paribus]

Unfortunately, -1 at a river crossing may not be enough against enemies with higher military tech. Especially when the tech puts their tactics ahead of yours. You need to work on your setup. If you can last til you get the 2nd French NI, you are pretty much invincible. Just make sure you take an Admin or Diplo Idea group first (Exploration since you are focusing on colonizing).

Aragon is a pretty decent ally. Just need to learn the pattern on how AI allies play in battles. Probably should go take care of Castile first and try to hang around the Pyrenees Mountains for more superior defense. Burgundy may carpet siege up north, but they will most likely send their main army to assist Castille in attacking you in Iberia. You can always send your army up north after you kick their butts defending an attack from both armies in the Pyrenees.

IMO, you don't want Burgundy Inheritance to proc. Austria is much more of a pain in the butt to deal with as they will start diplo-annexing faster than you may be able to keep up. Also if you can keep Austria's size in check without getting the Inheritance to proc, they may make a decent ally for awhile before they eventually set you as a rival.

 

[Colossal_Elk]

The big mistake was letting Burgundy live. If you don't take them out early, they become so rich that their supply of mercenaries will never run out. I've seen Burgundy (with less than its starting lands) pull out a +90k stack of mercs, and only because of my interference did they not beat PU Denmark, Austria, and Hungary singlehandedly.

 

[Katakakes]

Unfortunately, -1 at a river crossing may not be enough against enemies with higher military tech. Especially when the tech puts their tactics ahead of yours. You need to work on your setup. If you can last til you get the 2nd French NI, you are pretty much invincible. Just make sure you take an Admin or Diplo Idea group first (Exploration since you are focusing on colonizing).

Aragon is a pretty decent ally. Just need to learn the pattern on how AI allies play in battles. Probably should go take care of Castile first and try to hang around the Pyrenees Mountains for more superior defense. Burgundy may carpet siege up north, but they will most likely send their main army to assist Castille in attacking you in Iberia. You can always send your army up north after you kick their butts defending an attack from both armies in the Pyrenees.

IMO, you don't want Burgundy Inheritance to proc. Austria is much more of a pain in the butt to deal with as they will start diplo-annexing faster than you may be able to keep up. Also if you can keep Austria's size in check without getting the Inheritance to proc, they may make a decent ally for awhile before they eventually set you as a rival.

Thank you. The Pyrenees idea is very good. But I think the Rival system needs to be reworked, because pretty much everyone that could make a decent ally rivaled me. Even Portugal and they were a non-factor. So getting allies is pretty difficult. I'd like to ally Austria as I have no interest in attacking the HRE but they just decided I'm their rival, even though embargoing me has no effect whatsoever.

 

[birincikalite]

"I decide Aristocracy as the diplomat will be handy and lower mil tech cost is very nice"
This was a definite mistake IMO. You don't really want cheaper tech as France, because with your national idea you're almost always paying extra power for being ahead in technology.And military...Well, you can't spend MP a lot so it will always be excess unless you recruit 5-6 general becaue you'll have way too much % modifier in MIL tech due to being so ahead you won't be able to research MIL after a point.
Any Military idea is better than aristocracy, for a Colonial land-heavy nation that doesn't suffer from Manpower(Well, you may be naval focused but you're still a land powerhouse as France thanks to your national ideas) I'd definetely go Quality(which also helps Navy a lot so you're getting full efficiency there)
Anyway, allying is not that important.Only ally with stronger ones.In the beginning you may consider Castille but you won't really need as they may drag you into a useless fight against Aragon, though after they get PU it's gonna help for sure.If Austria gets Burgundy you may consider someone close to Austria(like a HRE member) to support you in your offense against them.

 

[ceteris.paribus]

Just give Austria some time. They won't have you as a rival for long, but I also think you can just keep restarting your game til they don't rival you. It might still be random.

But yeah, don't take any military group idea first. Get Exploration and just keep taking new ideas til its full. You don't need Dip Tech this early in the game. Your military tech should be leveled up until it exceeds 1000+ MP TNL forcing you to wait awhile til the rest of the Western Tech Group catches up. Optimum Mil Tech is very necessary for defense. Without it, nothing else much matters and you won't last very long if you military capabilities are inferior to your neighboring rivals.

First three group ideas for colonizing should go Exploration > Defensive > Expansion.

 

[birincikalite]

Just give Austria some time. They won't have you as a rival for long, but I also think you can just keep restarting your game til they don't rival you. It might still be random.

But yeah, don't take any military group idea first. Get Exploration and just keep taking new ideas til its full. You don't need Dip Tech this early in the game. Your military tech should be leveled up until it exceeds 1000+ MP TNL forcing you to wait awhile til the rest of the Western Tech Group catches up. Optimum Mil Tech is very necessary for defense. Without it, nothing else much matters and you won't last very long if you military capabilities are inferior to your neighboring rivals.

First three group ideas for colonizing should go Exploration > Defensive > Expansion.

As France you need Diplomacy in first 3

 

[Katakakes]

As France you need Diplomacy in first 3

Why? The only thing I see useful about it as a colonial nation is the extra diplomat.

I don't plan on fabricating claims, I don't plan on vassalizing or force vassalizing and as long as I control the Curia which is easy, I can break off marriages without the stab hit.

 

[Fenxis]

The big mistake was letting Burgundy live. If you don't take them out early, they become so rich that their supply of mercenaries will never run out. I've seen Burgundy (with less than its starting lands) pull out a +90k stack of mercs, and only because of my interference did they not beat PU Denmark, Austria, and Hungary singlehandedly.

OTOH you don't need to push them too much as you can inherit a bunch of provinces when either the Burgundian succession crisis fires or the Netherlands are formed.

That being said my first two attempts w/ France failed -- first time I was too aggressive and hadn't encountered the peasant war in the past (x2) and in the second one I declared vs Austria when they tried to PU Hungary (as they already inherited half of Burgandy). This ended up being a huge mistakes as non of my allies came to help .

I'm not sold with Aragon as an ally unless you can do something against Castile before the Iberian Wedding fires -- for tech both times I went with Diplo in order to annex the vassals faster. Having 8 relations + % vassal income NI seems like a nice synergy.

 

[ikkiks]

Why? The only thing I see useful about it as a colonial nation is the extra diplomat.

I don't plan on fabricating claims, I don't plan on vassalizing or force vassalizing and as long as I control the Curia which is easy, I can break off marriages without the stab hit.

You're telling me you want to play as France and have no wars whatsoever? Your only goal is to colonize, nothing more?

Then I'm not sure you picked the right nation... as France, you can't go straight to colonization. You'll need exploration and a lot of dip techs. You'll have to fight Spain, Portugal and England if you want to dominate America. So, you might as well just get into war against them all the time, not just in America. That being said, you'll need to get ball rolling early on. So you have to break Burgundy and take french provinces.

And how do you get the ball rolling as France? Yes, you guessed it. Diplomacy. You need to annex your vassals faster, get into wars faster and to use diplo-annex after you feed some small countries like Navarra, Granada and Galicia.

 

[delpiero1234]

Aristocracy is a very bad NI in single player.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Aristocracy is a very bad NI in single player.

Unless you've already run away with the game and just need another diplomat to annex vassals.

 

[delpiero1234]

Unless you've already run away with the game and just need another diplomat to annex vassals.

Ok yes maybe it's decent in late game for the extra diplomat but it is a very bad first NI.

 

[MiniaAr]

You're telling me you want to play as France and have no wars whatsoever? Your only goal is to colonize, nothing more?

Then I'm not sure you picked the right nation... as France, you can't go straight to colonization. You'll need exploration and a lot of dip techs. You'll have to fight Spain, Portugal and England if you want to dominate America. So, you might as well just get into war against them all the time, not just in America. That being said, you'll need to get ball rolling early on. So you have to break Burgundy and take french provinces.

And how do you get the ball rolling as France? Yes, you guessed it. Diplomacy. You need to annex your vassals faster, get into wars faster and to use diplo-annex after you feed some small countries like Navarra, Granada and Galicia.

You can get new vassals and annex your starting ones fast enough without Diplomacy. You're rich enough to pay for an embassy as soon as it's available and for a +Dip reputation advisor, of any skill level. And you can run a DIP deficit and still build your trade and naval line, while staying on par in tech, if not ahead.
At least that's how I do it as France.
I always pick Economic as my first idea, due to the starting king and heir both having ADM 5. And also because nothing is more French than taxing your people to death. :laugh:

 

[mgoetze]

You can have your vassals attach to your armies if they are doing nonsense otherwise.

Taking a Military idea group first is questionable, because Military technologies 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 all raise military tactics, which is the #1 most important military stat. Then again, you are a Western nation, so it might be possible to make it work... as long as you're not taking all those ideas ASAP.

Of course, Aristocratic happens to be only the 4th best military idea group, so that's definitely the wrong one to take.

 

[Masquinongy]

You're telling me you want to play as France and have no wars whatsoever? Your only goal is to colonize, nothing more?

Then I'm not sure you picked the right nation... as France, you can't go straight to colonization. You'll need exploration and a lot of dip techs. You'll have to fight Spain, Portugal and England if you want to dominate America. So, you might as well just get into war against them all the time, not just in America. That being said, you'll need to get ball rolling early on. So you have to break Burgundy and take french provinces.

And how do you get the ball rolling as France? Yes, you guessed it. Diplomacy. You need to annex your vassals faster, get into wars faster and to use diplo-annex after you feed some small countries like Navarra, Granada and Galicia.

+1

I would not go exploration first. You need to solidify your mainland holdings first. Denmark is a pretty good ally to get. They often have to fight Austria and England usually wants Orkney which means you both have common allies. Furthermore if they drag you into an eastern war you can join and be a terrible ally by not getting dragged into much fighting.

I would take diplo first and focus on taking Burgundy's non-HRE lands (coastal provinces around Antwerp) that will go to Austria is the event fires. I find that taking a few of Flanders cores and releasing them as a vassal is a good way to go. That way you can return cores to them in future wars with Burgundy.

Once you are strong enough at home you can take colonies pretty easily from Castile and Portugal by getting high WS from beating up their homelands.

 

[Katakakes]

You're telling me you want to play as France and have no wars whatsoever? Your only goal is to colonize, nothing more?

That's the fun of it.

Pick unorthodox strategies for certain countries. Wouldn't be the first time I'd play a Portugal game where I ignored colonization and blobbed the entire Iberian peninsula and the Mediterranean for Genoa trade node before I got bored.

If I wanted to blob as France I'd just focus on mil and diplo and eat up the HRE, but that's no fun for me right now. I want colonization as France, make Floride and French Canada. See if I can get a French Indian trade route going.

 

[Katakakes]

I always pick Economic as my first idea, due to the starting king and heir both having ADM 5. And also because nothing is more French than taxing your people to death. :laugh:

L'etat ces't moi!