How do I win 100 years war as England?

[Omniburg]

I tried but when the surrender of Maine comes around all I get is France calling in the Pope and a bunch of other tiny guys to help him and I dont have the manpower or money to fight him and the War Of The Roses at the same time. What do I do?

[Rumi]

Originally posted by Lil Yeuty:

I tried but when the surrender of Maine comes around all I get is France calling in the Pope and a bunch of other tiny guys to help him and I dont have the manpower or money to fight him and the War Of The Roses at the same time. What do I do?

get austria and castille to do the fighting for you

[Dojaeni]

In my ironman game i allied castiel, if your very lucky they wont be rival with aragon and you can ally them too. They wont join the war unless you promis them land. do this and let them do as much fighting as possible. you can pu france without giving up land if you are willing to lose them as allies or you can have a protracted war where france gets them to separate peace. Probaly lose them as allies this way anyhow.

The bonus is that once france is in a pu with you they make great targets. Plus theres a chance of getting spain in a pu if your very lucky and their king dies before having an heir. Possible succession war with a rival but if you have managed to regain manpower and france armies then you have two of europes superpowers on your side.

if you haveaustria as an ally and they are rivaled with burgandy and the succession war ends up being against them then extra bonus

[Sir Slasher]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=847676106 i just sold maine

[Grim]

Originally posted by Sir Slasher:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=847676106 i just sold maine

How does that help?

[Surimi]

Ally France's rivals and hostile neighbours. As many as possible.

They won't be automatically called in when the war begins, so you have to call them in manually by promising them land (this is a lie, we won't be giving them any land!) This is also why they need to be neighbours (I don't think Austria will cut it) becuase otherwise they won't be able to core any French land and won't be interested in joining.

Burgundy and Aragon are good choices.

Fight the war normally and when warscore gets high enough, enforce the union. This will monumentally piss off all your allies in the war who were expecting land, so they will break their alliances and become lifelong enemies. This is just the price you have to pay.

With France in a PU you'll want to start lowering its liberty desire quickly and raising its opinion of you. If your monarch dies with France's opinion hostile it will break the union. Also, as with any PU beware of low prestige as negative prestige massively raises the liberty desire of personal union subjects.

Consider flipping culture to Norman. That way, when you integrate France you can become France yourself and will be able to switch to French ideas. French ideas are incredibly strong (I would say a lot stronger than English ideas) and you keep the bonuses from English events. France also has a decision to become an absolute monarchy so if you don't want to be an English monarchy any more you can just take that. Becoming France will make Austria a historical rival though.

[Cortez]

Originally posted by Deep Hurting:

Ally France's rivals and hostile neighbours. As many as possible.

They won't be automatically called in when the war begins, so you have to call them in manually by promising them land (this is a lie, we won't be giving them any land!) This is also why they need to be neighbours (I don't think Austria will cut it) becuase otherwise they won't be able to core any French land and won't be interested in joining.

Burgundy and Aragon are good choices.

Fight the war normally and when warscore gets high enough, enforce the union. This will monumentally piss off all your allies in the war who were expecting land, so they will break their alliances and become lifelong enemies. This is just the price you have to pay.

With France in a PU you'll want to start lowering its liberty desire quickly and raising its opinion of you. If your monarch dies with France's opinion hostile it will break the union. Also, as with any PU beware of low prestige as negative prestige massively raises the liberty desire of personal union subjects.

Consider flipping culture to Norman. That way, when you integrate France you can become France yourself and will be able to switch to French ideas. French ideas are incredibly strong (I would say a lot stronger than English ideas) and you keep the bonuses from English events. France also has a decision to become an absolute monarchy so if you don't want to be an English monarchy any more you can just take that. Becoming France will make Austria a historical rival though.

What's the point of playing Britain honestly if you just want to take over France and be France it self? lol. As France, you could take England easily with just tricks or big ass navy. France can really afford Heavy ships and can crush England's navy with the help of Castile or... no help at all, really.

[Surimi]

Originally posted by FD God:

What's the point of playing Britain honestly if you just want to take over France and be France it self? lol.

Britain can get a PU on France almost immediately with a single (not very difficult) war.

France cannot get a PU on Britain almost immediately.

PUs, even enforced PUs, are an incredibly fast and AE efficient way to expand, and,as mentioned, France's ideas are much more conducive to being a continental power than Britain's ideas.

Finally, England has more events which give permanent bonuses than France (Lollards, Justices of the Peace, Star Chamber, Admiralty/Royal Army) by starting as England you can snag a lot of these events and then form France while keeping the bonuses.

[Hanz]

Give maine to France and wait to rose wars. Meanwhile improve relations with strong france rivals - Castile adn Austria. Acumulate money and make huge army. Then attack france. It should be total war so get 99 % war score, get their provinces, relase their nations, simply make them weak as it is possible. Then attack them after every truce. Oh and english manpower is not strong, but has enormous money so buy mercaneries.

[Cortez]

Originally posted by Deep Hurting:

Originally posted by FD God:

What's the point of playing Britain honestly if you just want to take over France and be France it self? lol.

Britain can get a PU on France almost immediately with a single (not very difficult) war.

France cannot get a PU on Britain almost immediately.

PUs, even enforced PUs, are an incredibly fast and AE efficient way to expand, and,as mentioned, France's ideas are much more conducive to being a continental power than Britain's ideas.

Finally, England has more events which give permanent bonuses than France (Lollards, Justices of the Peace, Star Chamber, Admiralty/Royal Army) by starting as England you can snag a lot of these events and then form France while keeping the bonuses.

Well, I guess you are right. But I was thinking as France you can expand in many ways. Not only in Europe, but you can go after Africa, Marocco or just Spain. But yeah, I guess it's worth playing as Britain and then form France to get these nice events. Though, I would still keep playing as Britain for some reason lol...

[Fantastic Fwoosh]

Play aggressively with your allies on the farmlands & break the french down while plantaginet still lives to lead, move your high shock general with some detached chevauchee horse regiments & reinforce fights given that you will need to deal as much overwhelming damage as possible quickly versus the french then try to kill reinforcements.

If you are lucky their king leading as a general might die, leaving a less competent successor, a minus stability hit and a worse general.

[mischa.zehnbauer]

Easiest way is to restart until Burgundy doesn't rival you. Burgundy, Spain and Aragon are the only countries that can rival France and want French land and therefore can be called into the war without 10 favors. You might consider to ally Savoi. THey won't join, but chances are that they will be allied to France otherwise.

At the start I usually build 4 additional regular cavs and 5 merc infantery on the continent. Place your whole next to Paris. Preferably in Caux as it has the highest support limit. If possible, hire a disciplin advisor. As soon as the war starts, move your forces on the stack in Paris and destroy it. Then take those soldiers that aren't needed for a siege to main or something close. Detach/build one additional merc to grab champagne and other areas around Paris. Roll a second general and turn henry into one and hope for 1 or even 2 siege points. It's not mandatory, but makes things a lot easier.

Also try to peace out French allies right from the start. Aragon/Savoy are often happy to get some land from Castille/Burgundy. As you don't want to give them the land you promised anyway, it doesn't matter as they will likely break the alliance, no matter what you do.

No strategy can guarantee your victory. France may ally ottos early, you may be unlucky with dice rolls and that bugger Henry may die right after you got France in a PU. If you want a guaranteed PU, ignore Main, weaken France in one or two wars, finish war of the roses and use the mission to take their throne. Personally, I think that chances are high enough to give it a try right at the beginning and to simply restart if it doesn't work out.


edit: Ah yes, improve relations with western HRE nations during the war or you will face a dangerous coalition.

[ChadSimpKing]

♥♥♥♥ them up before they get elan, ally burgundy arragon or castile and let them do the fighting for you

[Cortez]

Originally posted by Rothschild:

♥♥♥♥ them up before they get elan, ally burgundy arragon or castile and let them do the fighting for you

Don't forget Austria! Austria was a major player in my game. Though, I plaid without DLC which adds favours, so it was easier to call all my allies in since they were France's rivals.