Im the glorious English, and my friend is the evil French. We're playing over LAN and I need some advice to crush him 
The story so far:
We're on seperate continents (Fractal). After the French crushed the Ottomans, they ruled over their entire continent, becoming an economic and cultural powerhouse. Meanwhile my Empire expanded peacefully (Lot's of land to grab) and became the leading power in science.
Russia and India took advantage of my small, but well trained and equipped army and launched a surprise attack. After totally crushing the Russian army in a bottleneck, showering them with arrows from longbowmen, I forced them to make peace and concentrated my forces on India. I recaptured the city taken by the Indians and conquered most of India (Germany and America also took a few cities).
Meanwhile the French saw how weak Russia had become and invaded with Musketeers. I couldn't let them take it all, so I resumed the war against Russia and it is currently being divided by English and French armies.
The current situation:
My army is fighting in Russia in the North, but Im taking heavy casualties and making slow progress. Russia is filled with hills, mountains and bottlenecks. Very hard terrain to wage war in. The French army is also taking losses, but have never the less managed to conquer Moscow.
In the Western part of my empire lies India, which is still being rebuilt after the war. Half my army is stationed there, to deter attacks from the Germans and Americans, which both have large militaries.
France is insanely rich, allied to most city-states and beelining for UN. It's army is slightly more modern than mine, but mine is experienced and larger. There's ocean between us, patroled by a few French frigates. The Royal Navy only consists of caravels, but have the capability to produce Ships of the Line.
My science is the best in the world, and recently got even better (Rationalism). As time goes by, I can out tech him, but not enough to get spaceships before he get's UN. Much of my Empire is war-torn and needs time to consolidate. My army is strong, but spread out because so is my Empire. I have the ability to produce lot's of well trained units quickly though, as well as ships of the line.
Should I declare war on the French now, while they're still fighting the Russians? Even though their army in Russia is strong, they will have a hard time reinforcing it, since theres an Ocean between our continents. With my fast Caravels (Sun never sets+Great Lighthouse) I can seriously disrupt his reinforcements, while building Ships of the Line. My problem is that my army is mostly cavalry which is useless in the Russian hills, and Longbowmen who are getting obsolete against his Musketeers and cannons.
I could also consolidate my gains and build up, but every turn I wait he takes more of Russia, as well as get's closer to diplomatic victory.
Im also at loss which social policies to pursue. Rationalism is great, but Im soon at industrial age and could chose Communism, to make his hold on the citystates weaker.
Advice would be great - thanks in advance
The story so far:
We're on seperate continents (Fractal). After the French crushed the Ottomans, they ruled over their entire continent, becoming an economic and cultural powerhouse. Meanwhile my Empire expanded peacefully (Lot's of land to grab) and became the leading power in science.
Russia and India took advantage of my small, but well trained and equipped army and launched a surprise attack. After totally crushing the Russian army in a bottleneck, showering them with arrows from longbowmen, I forced them to make peace and concentrated my forces on India. I recaptured the city taken by the Indians and conquered most of India (Germany and America also took a few cities).
Meanwhile the French saw how weak Russia had become and invaded with Musketeers. I couldn't let them take it all, so I resumed the war against Russia and it is currently being divided by English and French armies.
The current situation:
My army is fighting in Russia in the North, but Im taking heavy casualties and making slow progress. Russia is filled with hills, mountains and bottlenecks. Very hard terrain to wage war in. The French army is also taking losses, but have never the less managed to conquer Moscow.
In the Western part of my empire lies India, which is still being rebuilt after the war. Half my army is stationed there, to deter attacks from the Germans and Americans, which both have large militaries.
France is insanely rich, allied to most city-states and beelining for UN. It's army is slightly more modern than mine, but mine is experienced and larger. There's ocean between us, patroled by a few French frigates. The Royal Navy only consists of caravels, but have the capability to produce Ships of the Line.
My science is the best in the world, and recently got even better (Rationalism). As time goes by, I can out tech him, but not enough to get spaceships before he get's UN. Much of my Empire is war-torn and needs time to consolidate. My army is strong, but spread out because so is my Empire. I have the ability to produce lot's of well trained units quickly though, as well as ships of the line.
Should I declare war on the French now, while they're still fighting the Russians? Even though their army in Russia is strong, they will have a hard time reinforcing it, since theres an Ocean between our continents. With my fast Caravels (Sun never sets+Great Lighthouse) I can seriously disrupt his reinforcements, while building Ships of the Line. My problem is that my army is mostly cavalry which is useless in the Russian hills, and Longbowmen who are getting obsolete against his Musketeers and cannons.
I could also consolidate my gains and build up, but every turn I wait he takes more of Russia, as well as get's closer to diplomatic victory.
Im also at loss which social policies to pursue. Rationalism is great, but Im soon at industrial age and could chose Communism, to make his hold on the citystates weaker.
Advice would be great - thanks in advance
