Playing France - optimum city strategy

[TM Moot]

I want to give the Boney a go, and I'm intrigued by the French UA 'Ancien Regime'.

I understand that every city gives +2 culture (until Steam Power) but also that every additional city increases the SP cost.

Is there an optimum number of cities to found?

I'm assuming go for 6-8 core cities and puppet the rest.

Any tips? The French AI seems to ICS (post-patch) but not sure if this is ideal as I want to grab as many SP's as possible.

 

[dubrown]

Dunno really what's best with the french as I haven't yet had the honor to play them. But one thing springs to mind, is it full cities all of the AIs or is it puppets?

I would guess for a culture game with france a few core cities and then puppets would give a pretty good cultural growth (if the UA works on puppets that is) as the +2 culture from puppets would be a "freebie" towards cultural growth without increasing the SP cost.

 

[biohazard72]

Depends on difficulty. On lower difficulties, you might do better with fewer cities and a long warmongering spree to pick up more social policies (from puppet culture). On higher difficulties, good land gets scooped up fast that a quick post-NC expansion to fill in all unclaimed land is a strong play, especially with Oligarchy.

I would just build as many cities as my land dictates then push for an Oligarchy war. Knights and siege units are good for this. Then push for cities with Longswords/siege or hopefully a good peace deal.

 

[wurstburst]

Your best way to use France is to settle 3 or 4 cities including your capital. Build up a heavy military and go to war. Puppet as much stuff as your happiness can handle, and raze the cities that you can't handle or don't need. Your puppets will generate culture, but won't increase SP cost. Grab a lot of the happiness helping SP and you should be able to keep puppeting throughout the game.

 

[TM Moot]

@ dubrown - they were full AI cities I believe, not puppets (which would make more sense!)

Having only 3-4 cities sounds scary, I might try 5-6, depending upon land/resources.

Not an expert on puppets - do they ever build units/workers? and are they likely to prioritise cultural buildings?

 

[vexing]

Not an expert on puppets - do they ever build units/workers? and are they likely to prioritise cultural buildings?

no, and no. they prioritize gold buildings.

the larger the map you play on the less social policy cost will be increased by each new city founded.

if you're going for a cultural victory, i'd recommend as few cities as you're comfortable with (preferably one), with as many puppets as you can grab

 

[bryanw1995]

songhai is great for a cultural puppet game as well b/c the puppet ai actually prioritizes his UB. probably even better than napoleon in most cases.

 

[wurstburst]

@ dubrown - they were full AI cities I believe, not puppets (which would make more sense!)

Having only 3-4 cities sounds scary, I might try 5-6, depending upon land/resources.

Not an expert on puppets - do they ever build units/workers? and are they likely to prioritise cultural buildings?

5-6 cities is completely unnecessary. Puppets won't make units, but they do tend to spit out the cultural buildings at a good pace, even if it isn't their top priority.

A single production city can probably cover your military needs for the whole game. If you ally a military CS, you'll get a few more and you can rush buy military units from time to time also. use the other 2 or 3 cities to build needed buildings for science, culture, gold, etc, plus useful wonders.

 

[Tabarnak]

France is an excellent warmonger. Build enough cities to claim ressources and iron.

1-Beeline iron and go to war with 4-6 swords. Build NC. Sit down to victory.

2-Grab luxuries, build NC quickly and turtle to longswordmen. Go to war. Sit down to victory.

3-Grab luxuries, build NC and delay iron working. When you are ready, discover IW when you have 2-3 extra settlers. Expand, expand. Research, research. Rifles? Go to war. Sit down to victory. No war? Perfect. Just watch out runaway AIs. Sit down to victory.

 

[Nares]

Three cities is the "optimal" size for any culture attempt, though one city + puppets is probably the most efficient culture approach.

 

[Soronery]

@ dubrown - they were full AI cities I believe, not puppets (which would make more sense!)

Having only 3-4 cities sounds scary, I might try 5-6, depending upon land/resources.

Not an expert on puppets - do they ever build units/workers? and are they likely to prioritise cultural buildings?

In my first deity victory (Pangea, standard size, quickpace), my capitol was the only city that I had settled.

 

[TM Moot]

5-6 cities is completely unnecessary. Puppets won't make units, but they do tend to spit out the cultural buildings at a good pace, even if it isn't their top priority.

yeah, i think you're right

i tried it last night, had a decent capital, great second city and average 3rd and 4th cities, but due poorly placed iron my german neighbours declared on me before i could roll out an invasion force to puppet him!!

good fun though, will try again, but try to stick with 3 cities

 

[Alpedar]

Large puppet empire = lot of money,
lot of money-> you can buy all units, so its extremely good to build heroic epic + exp. giving buildigs in one city and buy whole military there.

 

[Wargizmo]

songhai is great for a cultural puppet game as well b/c the puppet ai actually prioritizes his UB. probably even better than napoleon in most cases.

I found the same with Egypt, the AI builds burial tombs which is amazing because there's no upkeep and you get +2 happiness and +2 culture per city

 

[ElectricKoolAid]

The best thing to do with france, or at least my strategy (works well on prince):

1-Build Paris wherever, preferably with lux resources
2-Wait it out with Paris and maybe one or two other cities until the medieval age, these next two cities should prioritize production
3-Get to gunpowder first and spam musketeers. These are cheap and will tear down the enemy forces that are probably still horsemen or something.
4-Attack small empires and puppet, puppet, puppet. Don't worry about capitulation, take their cities and then let them sue you for peace. Never annex. Try to get 5-6 additional cities this way.
5-Bring back your forces and start emphasizing culture. Do everything you can to get social policies, while keeping happiness up.
6-Once you get into the industrial age, mass upgrade your old musketeers to the foreign legion, which is wonderful for what you are about to do
7-Harass other civs with your army. Don't take cities, just show up in their territory and pillage, defeat units, etc as long as you can. Eventually make peace for gold or resources, whatever you can squeeze out of them.
8-By this point you should be on your way to some other sort of victory, depending on your play style. For me I find cultural victories are easy to get this way.
-or-
8-Kill everyone. The foreign legion is a wonderful unit for conquest, and by this point your cultural emphasis should provide you with major bonuses from Honor and Order. This is going to be your strongest point in the game, as pretty soon larger, more populous civs are going to catch up in terms of technology and you'll go into major decline.

 

[TM Moot]

The best thing to do with france, or at least my strategy (works well on prince):

1-Build Paris wherever, preferably with lux resources
2-Wait it out with Paris and maybe one or two other cities until the medieval age, these next two cities should prioritize production
3-Get to gunpowder first and spam musketeers. These are cheap and will tear down the enemy forces that are probably still horsemen or something.
4-Attack small empires and puppet, puppet, puppet. Don't worry about capitulation, take their cities and then let them sue you for peace. Never annex. Try to get 5-6 additional cities this way.
5-Bring back your forces and start emphasizing culture. Do everything you can to get social policies, while keeping happiness up.
6-Once you get into the industrial age, mass upgrade your old musketeers to the foreign legion, which is wonderful for what you are about to do
7-Harass other civs with your army. Don't take cities, just show up in their territory and pillage, defeat units, etc as long as you can. Eventually make peace for gold or resources, whatever you can squeeze out of them.
8-By this point you should be on your way to some other sort of victory, depending on your play style. For me I find cultural victories are easy to get this way.
-or-
8-Kill everyone. The foreign legion is a wonderful unit for conquest, and by this point your cultural emphasis should provide you with major bonuses from Honor and Order. This is going to be your strongest point in the game, as pretty soon larger, more populous civs are going to catch up in terms of technology and you'll go into major decline.

I've done it slightly differently, I founded Paris and Orleans whilst beelining Iron. Once hooked up I invaded my only near neighbour (Songhai) and puppeted his 6 cities. The plan was to then turtle whilst heading towards Musketeers, when I would roll them out towards Siam and Germany for more puppeting!!

Unfortunately in my initial blood lust, I puppeted a CS, now everyone has denounced me and Germany has just declared..!!