France tips

[Jimmer]

Greetings. This is another in a series of "tips" notes I intend to write. I plan on writing them for each major power, using knowledge I gained from playing the boardgame, but applied to the computer version. I hope to create a separate thread for each nation. If I get ambitious, I'll create a thread for general game tips as well (tips that apply to all powers).

[center]I would ask that only tips be placed here, not debates or thanks or whatever. If you have a problem with or like a tip, write the author a PM and convince them, and they can edit their entry. That should keep the length of these to a minimum.
Tips that don't agree with other tips, however, are perfectly fine. Everyone is free to post their tips here.[/center]

"Parlez-vous français ?"

No? Well, you will! (a line Napoleon MIGHT have said)

France is what this game is all about. For the game to be enjoyable, France must be played acceptably.

So, the first tip is "Never bid too much for France as a rookie!" France is a lot of fun to play, but that nation also has a great deal of complicating factors involved in the playing of it.

It's important, as France, (just as with other powers) to keep in mind the political chart. In order to win, even WITHOUT having bid for the nation, France must average better than 9 political points per turn. With a 25+ point bid, the average France must maintain is closer to 10 VP per turn than even the difficult 9.

However, don't get the impression that you have no chance. In fact, it is rare for France to spend more than a couple of quarters outside of the dominant zone (9 VP per quarter, minimum). So, 9-10 per turn is certainly possible. In fact, I've seen France win the game and yet have lost almost every war she fought in! Yes, losing is bad. But, those piles of political points gained while in the process of losing go a long way.

Furthermore, one really good war cancels out a lot of smaller, bad ones.

The key for France is war, war, war. Napoleonic campaigns are not called "Napoleonic" for nothing. Napoleon was a brutal killing machine. As France, you must emulate this. Peace treaties are not going to make things work out like they need to.

To be a killing machine, France must understand and follow an adage a good friend of mine says: "Big stacks kill little stacks." While this is obviously not always true, it's true an awful lot of the time.

And, when it comes to big stacks, France has no equal. France can field a whopping 143 factors in a Napoleon-led army, and still maintain his 5-5 rating! Plus, he'll have 18 cavalry in that, virtually preventing the opponent any chance of getting cavalry superiority. The tools are there.

The problem is that battles like that don't happen very often, relatively speaking. Typically, France's 100 factors will be facing 75 in the opposing stack. Still, that's a sizable delta.

Why did I stop at 6 French corps? Couldn't Napoleon over-stack and hold 12 corps? Yes, he could. But, he would risk granting the other player a 0 modifier instead of -1, or a +1 instead of a 0. This should only be done if the circumstances clearly warrant it, not just "because".

So, keep Napoleon in the middle of the action, so he can grab his favorite half-dozen corps at a moment's notice, and then squash anything that gets in his way.

Next up: Diplomatic tactics.

[Jimmer]

"Diplomacy by Napoleon". That could be the title of a book or something. As Mr. Scott once said, "The best diplomat I know of is a fully-activated phaser bank!" (Star Trek).

French diplomacy can and should be pretty hard-hitting. No power can stand up to the French alone in this game (at least, not at the beginning). This is a very important piece of information. For me, if I play France, I NEVER declare war on a Major power directly in the early game. I only declare war as a response to aggression against one of my minor neutrals.
Which ones are mine, you ask? Well, all of them, of course. Actually, all within reach. Which is pretty much the whole map,
minus N. Africa, Scandanavia, and other scattered places. And, I'll eventually want those, too.

This one is especially true for players of the board version: In the computer game, there are MANY other minor neutrals to grab. Certainly enough to keep even France satisfied for close to a year. If the central powers are willing to let you get away with it, grab those minors without stopping to breath.

But, ALWAYS be moving last (unless some other circumstance changes things). You want to be moving last so that you know when one of the other powers (or, both) are getting ready for war. They will invariably stack up their corps counters just before war. Otherwise, they'll be mincemeat before your army, the way you prefer things.

But, them telegraphing their anticipated situation gives you a HUGE bonus when you move after them (and, can move before them at your option, next turn). When you see the enemy stacking things up, consider carefully what your next diplomacy phase is going to be, and march towards the enemy with all haste if you believe you will be at war. If you stack your own forces up (ignoring the minors you just left in the weeds), you should be able to keep moving last.

Another thing you need to remember in diplomacy is to bribe your friends. At least once per economic phase (three months), think through whether you have any bribes to pay to anybody. If so, you have to do them during diplomacy in one of the three months of an economic period. It can't be done during the economic phase.

During the first 6 months to a year, WHILE AT PEACE with other MPs, keep declaring war on as many minor countries as you can reasonably reach. The number of factors that France can produce can get staggeringly large during peacetime. While you need war to win the game, you need factors to win the wars. The more you have, the better off you are.
But, as soon as you see someone else doing the same thing, it's time to stop and declare war.

Now, there's another diplomatic strategy that I hinted at above: Keep declaring war until your aggressive actions force your opponents to declare war on YOU. If you opt for this strategy, though, don't have the "allies to call" value checked for your allies unless you really want them going to war. Spain is not very likely to go to war with Russia for you, although he might against Turkey. Talk to your allies first. Better to keep allies, especially in the early game. Yes, causing them to lose PP might be good, but that's very short-term thinking. France has a hard time keeping allies. As France, you really want to KEEP your allies unless it's THEIR action that causes the split.

Another thing to think about is allowing your allies to get a separate peace. For most countries, it's an insult to leave your partner at war. But, talk this out with your allies first. Yes, you want to press your will on them (you are Napoleon, after all!), but you don't want to do it without thinking about it. The option to allow separate peace is NOT the default, so think it through.

There are lots more things to thinking about during diplomacy, but these are some of the uniquely French thoughts. Next post, we'll discuss the army. The Grande Armee'.

[Jimmer]

OK, you're France, and someone is at war with you. What happens now?
 
A LOT happens now, that's what!
 
The French are capable, as I said previously, of fielding an incredible number of troops. More than anybody else, when the opponent doesn't double-stack (or triple, and sometimes even if they do!) As I quoted my friend above, "Big stacks kill little stacks". This isn't technically true all the time, but it's certainly worth the trouble of understanding.
 
In EiA, battle factors that are most important are: First chit selection, then the dice rolls, then the combat modifier, and finally the troop counts. If the chit selections are equal, and the die rolls are equal, and the leaders are equal, the side with the most troops will kill more of the enemy.
 
But, if the combat modifier is +1/-1 with the other elements being equal, more of the enemy will be killed than your side has die. Plus, more morale damage. The tables show the difference, but it is pretty significant. It makes it really tough to defeat a leader who is significantly better than your leader. However, it is not overpowering.
 
The dice rolls can make up for an awful lot. If you outroll your opponent by 2 pips each round, it will be like there were no leaders. However, outrolling your opponent consistently should be taken as an opportunity to examine the dice. (Seriously. I was once using a die that only had 1s, 2s, and 3s on it, without knowing it. I couldn't understand why I kept losing.
 
Chit selection is the most important factor, because it essentially overrules the other factors, to a degree. If you get a favorable chit selection, you can expect that you will win even if you don't roll particularly well, have a bad leader, and/or have fewer troops.
 
Now, this brings us to France's army. It's HUGE. But, it also has high morale and high movement. The morale, all other things being equal, means you will last longer in battle. Sometimes it's enough that you can win an otherwise losing or drawn combat. Morale is good for morale.
 
So, when you go into combat, you have advantages that some other powers might not have. Turkey and Spain, for instance, if fighting you, have a really hard time picking Outflank. This is because their leaders have a good chance of not the outflankers into combat. And, if that happens, they get trashed. But, as France, you can afford the occasional failed Outflank, because your morale keeps you in the battle.
 
And, with guys like Napoleon, Davout, and Massena being GUARANTEED of coming in on the second roll (barring terrain mods), Outflank can be devastating. The real Napoleon knew this, and French players would do well to mimic his actions (at least, in this case). In fact, if your chit selections include nothing but Outflank and Assault (to butcher the guy who picks Cordon on you), you can still have great success on the field. Only one choice beats Outflank IF the outflanking force comes in, and that choice is trashed by Assault.
 
So, use your morale. Use your size. And, use your leaders. They all add up to, shall we say, somewhat uncomfortable battle memories for your opponents.
 
But, there's another factor that your army holds for you, and it might just be more important than the others mentioned above: Movement. Most people don't think too seriously about movement rates when discussing battles, because movement has no effect on battles. Oh, how they are wrong, and a good France will teach them this lesson MOST severely.
 
There are three major reasons why movement speed is so critical. The first is that you can avoid having to forage at poor values. The extra movement point sure helps, but also the fact that you can expend more movement moving around helps, too. You can avoid that 2 zone in favor of the 4 right next to it, for example. You used up the extra movement, but canceled that out and then some by getting through better terrain.
 
The second reason movement is important is that you can concentrate your forces much more easily than your opponents can. You can also take advantage of opportunities that your opponents cannot reach. You can attack with a bigger stack, because you have more corps in range than your opponent does (the range is bigger). All of this means you can put together battles of your choosing much more easily than your opponents.
 
The third reason is related to the first, somewhat. The extra movement allows you to avoid certain places. This sometimes allows you to make a non-river assault, even though your opponent is directly up against a river. You simply cross the river upstream or downstream.
 
Now, your opponent will be wise to put "blocking corps" in those locations, so you can just run through them. However, this allows you to squash individual corps piecemeal, rather than as a stack. It's like taking candy from a baby (most of the time, anyhow). And, a single factor corps is still worth a PP (or two, if Nappy is the one to hammer it). And, you can't lose against a 1-factor corps sitting alone, unless your opponent reinforces, AND you roll 0% casualties. Besides all that, by the second or third set of wars, your opponents on the continent (Russia, Austria, and Prussia) will all have full or nearly full corps in the field. So, they can't just block without losing significant factors.
 
By the way, Probe is a chit selection that France can take sometimes, simply because his army is so much larger that he can waste away his opponent's army without any real penalty -- except against counter-attack. However, you should never pick probe against a single corps, because they can run away with that selection.
 
Have fun! And, teach your opponents that they need to start speaking French soon. [8D]
 
USE that army of yours.