How do you play France ?

[Nukkxx]

Hi, I'm in an early game with France. I'm wondering what to do and in what order ?
I'd like to attack Burgundy, vassalize Savoy and Brittany, create France out of these regions and of course kick the bloody Brits off the continent.
My army 15k and 13k is not that big. Should I first try to make it bigger ?
Not sure in what order should I do all the above ??
Advice's welcome :-)
thx

[Vladimiś]

Pretty sure there is no right or wrong way to play any country in EU4 because there is no goal in this game, you make up your own objectives be it achievements or just nice looking borders. As long as it works out for you you can do these things in any order. But I would say its always a good idea to keep your army at/near force limit because it might scare away predators that want your clay

[Zankor]

If you want specific tips for france I'd say this:
1. Get into a war with Provence As Soon As Possible(like literally month one if possible), Provence is in a unique spot in that it's not part of the empire and is very small and has no real allies and the pope who shares a border with him almost always excommunicates him, Also Burgundy often gets a mission to conquer Barrois from provence and Burgundy and England and Austria are your biggest problems.

2. Increase relations as soon as possible with Castille / Spain. You Might want to also try to ally Brittany or At least make him like you A lot, this will make it easier to deal with burgundy early on.

3. If possible try to get one of the medium sized North Italians (Savoy, Milan, etc) to ally you if they dislike or want land from Burgundy. You can check what land an AI player wants by going to diplomacy then the third tab and it will highlight yellow and red provinces that a AI player desires - you can then ask them to help you in a war against burgundy in exchange for promising to give them some of that land. (Note this might be a DLC feature, I honestly don't know).

Overall though, France is one of the most powerful nations with few obstacles, just don't do anything stupid and you will be fine. A stupid thing to do would be to go after England before you've completely crushed Burgundy - the AI loves to dogpile on someone caught up in a tough war especially if that person has cores or land that the AI player wants. Also leave anyone in the HRE Alone until you've dealt with Burgundy, England, Provence and Brittany. The Emperor often has a few powerful allies and is himself quite tough and backstabbing is always to be feared.

[Nukkxx]

Thanks ! very useful, I will give it a try. :-)

[Halcyon]

My current france strategy is to ally Scotland, Poland and Castille, vassalize navarra, then DoW england and take a province from portugal in a separate peace. Take all the english continental holdings including Calais. Then conquer Provence, preferably once it's been excommunicated either by the papal states or by you as papal controller. By this point you should have 10 favors with Castille and can call them to help you against Burgundy. Totally occupy Burgundy and vassalize Brittany, then wait for the burgundian inheritance event to fire. After this point, you're a superpower without peer and can slowly whittle away at Austria's power in the empire. Use Scotland as a beachead to take the southern English coast. Settle in to colonize and wait out the reformation while continuing to push your conquests in England slowly northwards, popping out wales as a vassal to save scroll mana and AE. If you're lucky, you can conquer part of portugal and then vassalize them as a secondary feature of your ongoing wars with England.

Savoy is a target of opportunity, but you can probably push into Italy if they get excommunicated so keep your options open in the south and be ready to attack Savoy, Florence, Lucca, Siena, etc once the shadow empire event fires.

[Nukkxx]

Originally posted by DariosOrvas:

If you want specific tips for france I'd say this:
1. Get into a war with Provence As Soon As Possible(like literally month one if possible), Provence is in a unique spot in that it's not part of the empire and is very small and has no real allies and the pope who shares a border with him almost always excommunicates him, Also Burgundy often gets a mission to conquer Barrois from provence and Burgundy and England and Austria are your biggest problems.

It's Septembre 1445. Couldn't get a CB against Provence and now they are allied with England. Too risky I think. :-(
I'd like to go against Burgundy instead but they are allied with Brittany, and me too ! So what will happen if I declare war ? (I have a humiliation CB)

[Nukkxx]

Oops, Burgundy has a PU with Flander, Brabant and Holland. If I declare war they will join Burgundy.
Each time I try France I'm stuck and can't find an easy conquest in the early game to start building the Great France... :-(

[Nukkxx]

One way wold be to attack Nivernais (without CB) which is a vassal of Burgundy, and crush the two. One stone, two birds ! What do you think ?

[Anaverageguy41]

Originally posted by Pete Roll:

Oops, Burgundy has a PU with Flander, Brabant and Holland. If I declare war they will join Burgundy.
Each time I try France I'm stuck and can't find an easy conquest in the early game to start building the Great France... :-(

You're France, Ally Savoy/Papal State and Castille/Aragon

Wreck everything

[Halcyon]

All of burgundy's union partners will always join burgundy if it goes to war. Think of them as part of the same state for military purposes. Starting with burgundy is tough due to the power of its starting union; I would start with England ASAP before it can ally anyone beyond portugal. Portugal will engage on its own and you can divide and conquer against the british/portuguese armies by killing them separately and as they land troops. With france's superior numbers and strong starting generals, it should be doable to mop up the english forces by 1448 at the latest and take all their continental holdings in the process.

[Zankor]

I think England is harder to deal with than Burgundy and his allies, mostly because of the time it takes to force him to give up - I don't ever invade mainland England I just wait him out in France and take whatever he will give me when he is tired of the war in France. If you make Brittany like you enough and have enough Diplomatic Reputation he might not help Burgundy, but it will show you when you go to declare war (before you send it) if he's on Burgundy's side with a green mark he will help - if he's red X on both sides he won't help either of you.

You have more combined military then Burgundy and his allies also, especially if you get a medium sized Italian to help you out, or Aragon or Castille(usually the two hate each other so don't try to ally both).

If noone will help you Divide and Conquer. Forts have zone of control and can prevent Burgundy from crossing your country without sieging at least one I believe. Position an army big enough to squish Brittany right on the border with Brittany and the rest near some of Burgundy's Troops. Declare war on one of them and Immediately (remember army maintenance slider to full a few months early) ambush their stacks. Use minimal siege force to bring down Brittany and have the rest of your army just play Defense and Squish small armies... Don't get caught use a high manuever general if you can too. Wait until Brittany is completly done then seperate peace him out then take on Burgundy the same way one sieger and one guard army.