The king sat at his desk reading the latest dispatches and reports on Great Britain's growing strength thru trade aggreements and alliances made. He was under no illusions the island empire had feeble status in the world. The wars in the last century had seen their power grow and he didn't think France's was keeping pace. Still, their power was not invincible. Yet. He decided to strike now while the world was at peace with France. He smiled at the irony of that thought but knew he couldn't wait til he was embroiled in yet another ill-conceived European war. Nor could he wait on such a war hoping that France would have an opportunity to expand in strength. He would make that opportunity instead. He would invade the British Isles.
I've played French campaigns many times and always had to eventually go up against the British at some point, usually when they are far too strong to be defeated easily and, often enough, when I'm occupied elsewhere to devote many armies and fleets to that task. But something has always struck me as interesting about the British position: on the Home Islands it is incredibly vulnerable at the beginning of the game. And, I believe, France alone is in a unique position to exploit this.
This strategy was worked out on Normal/Hard difficulty and I'll admit to having no experience playing on Very Hard for the campaign. But it *should* be adaptable to that setting as well, perhaps with a couple more turns preparation. It isn't foolproof since an untimely declaration of war against France can throw the timing completely off. More caveats are as follows. You will be all but ignoring North America. This is necessary so that as many resources as possible are devoted to the British invasion (no rock 'n roll pun intended). you'll be building a few things in North America just so it isn't totally defenseless but, on the whole, it will be incredibly weak. But once Britain is out of the way then you'll be able to devote more resources to it than would otherwise be the case.
Expect to be at war with the United Provinces, Austria and the Thirteen Colonies. All three are allied to Britain and so are likely to join her in the war. I have also found that the Native American tribes start declaring war soon after war starts with Britain so expect trouble there also. Yes it seems like you'll be at war with everyone but Austria and the UP will only give minimal problems during the invasion and pacification phases. This is due to intervening countries that inhibit their armies from rolling into a weak France. North America might see some lost colonies but they'll be gotten back soon enough. You might even get lucky and wean Austria or the UP out of the war.
The overall idea is to limit your spending to things that will directly help your build-up of troops or the turns immediately following the invasion and conquest. This means avoid attacking things that will cause you to repair units and not build units such as trade ships til the invasion succeeds. You don't need the financial distraction and it's only for 4 or 5 turns anyway. The key is to be able to hit all three British Isles captals on the same turn and, if possible, defeating them on the same turn. This is the goal of all you do in the first 4 turns.
Some of the steps are not *essential* but, since I did them with the idea of following the strategy, I'm including them for the sake of continuity of the strategy. Also, I broke down the seperate turns into different posts to make them easier to read. I hope no one minds. I can add screenshots if needed as well.
*** If a moderator can take out the word 'on' in the thread title I'd appreciate it ***
Life was much easier before I developed a sense of ethics.
I've played French campaigns many times and always had to eventually go up against the British at some point, usually when they are far too strong to be defeated easily and, often enough, when I'm occupied elsewhere to devote many armies and fleets to that task. But something has always struck me as interesting about the British position: on the Home Islands it is incredibly vulnerable at the beginning of the game. And, I believe, France alone is in a unique position to exploit this.
This strategy was worked out on Normal/Hard difficulty and I'll admit to having no experience playing on Very Hard for the campaign. But it *should* be adaptable to that setting as well, perhaps with a couple more turns preparation. It isn't foolproof since an untimely declaration of war against France can throw the timing completely off. More caveats are as follows. You will be all but ignoring North America. This is necessary so that as many resources as possible are devoted to the British invasion (no rock 'n roll pun intended). you'll be building a few things in North America just so it isn't totally defenseless but, on the whole, it will be incredibly weak. But once Britain is out of the way then you'll be able to devote more resources to it than would otherwise be the case.
Expect to be at war with the United Provinces, Austria and the Thirteen Colonies. All three are allied to Britain and so are likely to join her in the war. I have also found that the Native American tribes start declaring war soon after war starts with Britain so expect trouble there also. Yes it seems like you'll be at war with everyone but Austria and the UP will only give minimal problems during the invasion and pacification phases. This is due to intervening countries that inhibit their armies from rolling into a weak France. North America might see some lost colonies but they'll be gotten back soon enough. You might even get lucky and wean Austria or the UP out of the war.
The overall idea is to limit your spending to things that will directly help your build-up of troops or the turns immediately following the invasion and conquest. This means avoid attacking things that will cause you to repair units and not build units such as trade ships til the invasion succeeds. You don't need the financial distraction and it's only for 4 or 5 turns anyway. The key is to be able to hit all three British Isles captals on the same turn and, if possible, defeating them on the same turn. This is the goal of all you do in the first 4 turns.
Some of the steps are not *essential* but, since I did them with the idea of following the strategy, I'm including them for the sake of continuity of the strategy. Also, I broke down the seperate turns into different posts to make them easier to read. I hope no one minds. I can add screenshots if needed as well.
*** If a moderator can take out the word 'on' in the thread title I'd appreciate it ***
Life was much easier before I developed a sense of ethics.
[This message has been edited by Warguppy (edited 11-22-2009 @ 00:16 AM).]