Rival Catholic nations can form La Ligue Catholique, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, directed at the eradication of the Protestants in France. This both help you in various ways: aristocratic grants you free absolutism and helps you recover from autonomy faster. I usually only take the first two here and then finish it up later when I have spare admin points. Although you can also go quality. I should mention here that this is one of my least favorite achievements in EU4. If you stay Catholic, you get the Edict of Nantes decision giving you an extra 25% religious unity. The formation of La Ligue Catholique will decrease relations with Catholic nations and give qualifying neighboring powers a casus belli to restore the one true faith! Vassal feed them and claim all of Ireland. It is easier to expand into than Italy. To our North are the English who wish to add the French Crown to their collection, and to our East is the rebellious House de Bourgogne who would dare to claim the throne for themselves. Move 13 stack near Labourd. Larger army means you get more respect, as noone wants to mess with your large force. Improve relations with papal state, so you don’t get excommunicated. *Naval.
During the peace deal, the player should force Aragon to release Naples as a sovereign state or even transfer it to France if possible, it will make his conquest easier in the future.
So, as France you can either stay Catholic or go protestant. It’s important that Portugal joins this war. You will need to build a decent sized navy though. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts If France joins the Leagues the player can try to dismantle the Holy Roman Empire during the Leagues War if the Emperor and all the Electors are involved. Participating in the league wars is entirely up to you. In 1444, it borders Burgundy to the north and east, England to the north and west, Aragon to the south, Savoy to the east and a large number of minor nations all around.
I hope this guide helps out some newer players who are looking to try their hand at playing France! It can be used to gain Naples from Aragon, which is probably most important since it is bigger than any other subjects on the Italian peninsula. Defeating Portugal with a high score may give access to North Africa with Ceuta. Defensive works great to reduce your expenses: less attrition means less reinforcements, and 10% less maintenance of fortresses can be quite a lot in late game. Influence ideas will help with 1 more relation (1 more ally or vassal) and 2 more diplomatic reputation (AI likelier to accept your proposals). if you dont want to take over the world and dont care about becoming emperor of the HRE, then you can do pretty much anything you want.
Apart from that it's whatever you prefer. This war is easy, as your allies will help you out. They have grown their domains far beyond the borders of France, into the Lowlands and the Holy Roman Empire. After this, the game is completely open to the player. The timing of this war is entirely up to you. As mentioned above their manpower should come from their high development provinces which I guess should be even more developed compared to their current state. Use most of your relation slots for vassals. The conquest should be easy then, and the player will soon enjoy all the Italian wealth and the highly developed provinces of North Italy. France can be formed by a French, Basque, or Breton country should it cease to exist. Also, the fourth French national idea provides faster colonization and less "native rise" risk. More troops are always useful. This group is all-around awesome thanks to the war exhaustion reduction and the 10% less cost for all technology. As you don’t always control which religion gets control of HRE.
Don't know if it will be fun, but ill try it. Same reasons as above. Things will work out eventually. Ddiploannex cost and speed is very helpful for integrating your vassal swarm. Allies can be let fighting together while a small French regiment occupies provinces in the France region and a major regiments fight in the Britain region using Scotland as a start point. You should have a lot of vassals all game. Humanist– By this time you will have lot of provinces of wrong religion. Neighboring countries in other culture groups will gain 50% less aggressive expansion impact. After this it’s up to you. France also has some unique historical colonial events and missions. The war takes place in both the Britain region and the France region. France is such a strong nation that you basically need one major ally all game. There is also an option to diplovassalize Navarra at the start.
The player should be careful though with aggressive expansion, over-extension and the high coring cost of these provinces.
Then take Labourd, Aquitaine, Calais and Pale from England. Military ideas are always nice. You can convert to Protestant to avoid it, but it’s not necessary. France starts out guaranteeing independence to Scotland, in an alliance (as well as sharing dynasty) with Provence, and with cores on all the English land in France. Paris (183) gains 2 base tax. Example: If the player is working on conquering Muslims in North Africa, it might be more useful to take religious or humanist ideas instead of exploration or quantity. Next target after the first england war. France gains 33 prestige. Press J to jump to the feed.
Probably going to colonize since I need to do something. This achievement does not synergize with long term gameplay as France.
Normally you want to just play the game out and take idea groups that help with whatever is holding you back. DONT--> Humanist, Religious. Is it not now fitting to make this the seat of the French government? Quality will provide better combat ability in all three units and better generals. Combined with some early conquests in Savoy, France can position itself to dominate Italy early. Rest is whatever you want. The reduced aggressive expansion via having extra diplomats improving relations and the improve relations modifier, the province warscore cost and less stab loss from truce breaking or similar diplomatic actions are very valuable and the diplomatic reputation helps with an HRE game if you choose to go that route. You can also go religious, but humanist is easier if you want to expand fast. As for administrative, those help with expanding, which you don't eant. After the War with England and the French minors, the player may attack Aragon if the Iberian Wedding hasn't fired (yet) with the help of Castile to take the Pyrenees, The Balearics or Palermo to gain an access to North Africa, as it is an important and easy land to conquer. "The sinews of war are infinite money."