French guide: strengths, counters and build orders
Early cavalry: Royal Knights in Feudal, then a Keep push in Castle
Strengths
- Royal Knights from Feudal slaughter villagers and Archers
- TC works faster each Age, and economic techs are 35% cheaper
- Keeps are cheaper and make nearby Stable and Range units 20% cheaper
- Arbalétriers in Castle have strong armor against ranged
- Strongest civ in team games right now
Weaknesses
- Knights fall to mass Spearmen and Camels
- Knights alone get stuck against walls and towers
- The rush costs a lot of gold; if it fails he falls behind in the boom
- Average infantry and middling late game
How to counter French
- Scout the School of Cavalry at 2:30 to 3:00
- Get Spearmen before 3:40, and keep sheep and gold under the TC
- Outpost with Arrowslits or Palisade on exposed resources
- Spearmen and Archers together, never send Spearmen alone
- Build behind walls and scale, then meet the Keep push with Crossbows and Springalds
Units that work well: Spearmen · Archers · Crossbowmen · Camels · Springalds
Layla's in-game tip: Spearmen and Archers early, and villagers under the TC
Power spikes and timings
- 3:40First Royal Knights raid (3:40 to 4:30)
- 6:003-5 Knights with Archers (6:00 to 8:00)
- 13:20Castle Keep push with Knights and Arbalétriers
Strongest armies per age (simulator)
Open-field fights in Layla's battle simulator against standard armies of the same cost. Score = resources needed per enemy resource (lower is better; 1.0 is an even trade).
Feudal Age
- Hardened Spearman1
- Hardened Spearman + Horseman1.12
- Hardened Spearman + Royal Knight1.13
Castle Age
- Man-at-Arms + Arbalétrier0.8
- Veteran Spearman + Arbalétrier0.86
- Man-at-Arms + Veteran Spearman0.87
Imperial Age
- Elite Man-at-Arms + Elite Arbalétrier0.75
- Elite Spearman + Elite Arbalétrier0.77
- Elite Spearman + Elite Man-at-Arms0.8
Civilization bonuses
- Royal Knights in the Feudal Age (II).
- Town Centers work rate increased per age up +15%, +15%, +20%, +25%.
- Resource drop off buildings -50% cheaper.
- Economic technologies are -35% cheaper.
- Trade Posts are revealed on the minimap.
- Traders can return Food, Wood, or Gold to Markets.
- Trade Ships return +20% resources.
- Blacksmiths grant melee damage technologies for free after each age up.
Landmarks
- Chamber of Commerce (built in Age 1; 400F 200G · 190s) Acts as a Market. Trains one free Trader for each economic technology researched.
- School of Cavalry (built in Age 1; 400F 200G · 190s) Acts as a Stable. All of your stables produce units +20% faster.
- Guild Hall (built in Age 2; 1200F 600G · 220s) Generates and stores resources over time, the more resources stored the faster they are generated. Select between Food, Wood, Stone, or Gold. Generates stone…
- Royal Institute (built in Age 2; 1200F 600G · 220s) Houses all technologies unique to the French. Research is -30% cheaper here and ignores Age requirements.
- College of Artillery (built in Age 3; 2400F 1200G · 250s) Produces the Royal versions of the Cannon and Ribauldequin, which do +30% more damage and cost -25% gold. Royal Cannons gain the Artillery Shot ability and…
- Red Palace (built in Age 3; 2400F 1200G · 250s) Acts as a Keep. Features high-damage arbalest emplacements. Each garrisoned unit adds an additional arbalest. Activates an Arbalest emplacement on all Keeps…
- Notre Dame (built in Age 4; 5000F 5000W 5000G 5000S · 600s) Build and defend a Wonder to secure victory. Rival civilizations will be aware of its construction and seek to destroy it.
French build orders
- Feudal Royal KnightsaggressiveFeudal 3:40Castle 13:50
- 2 TC BoomboomFeudal 4:52
French matchups
Best matchups
Hardest matchups
All matchups
- vs Sengoku Daimyo56.5% · 5,345
- vs English56.3% · 54,440
- vs Byzantines55% · 12,960
- vs Chinese53.6% · 16,363
- vs Holy Roman Empire53.4% · 19,165
- vs Delhi Sultanate52.4% · 8,103
- vs Jeanne d'Arc52.1% · 7,125
- vs Rus51.9% · 16,117
- vs Japanese50.3% · 22,724
- vs Ottomans50.1% · 20,789
- vs Zhu Xi's Legacy50.1% · 13,071
- vs Macedonian Dynasty49.7% · 17,805
- vs Malians49.1% · 12,008
- vs House of Lancaster48.7% · 11,127
- vs Golden Horde48.4% · 12,990
- vs Jin Dynasty48.2% · 7,329
- vs Abbasid Dynasty48.1% · 10,204
- vs Tughlaq Dynasty47.9% · 5,114
- vs Mongols47.6% · 15,749
- vs Knights Templar47.4% · 40,941
- vs Order of the Dragon46.6% · 22,329
- vs Ayyubids44.1% · 8,834
FAQ
- What counters French in AoE4?
- Spearmen, Archers, Crossbowmen, Camels, Springalds. Scout the School of Cavalry at 2:30 to 3:00
- Is French a good civ in AoE4 right now?
- French wins 50.7% of ranked 1v1 games across all ranks (about 180,316 games), which puts it in tier B on our tier list.
- What are the unique units of French?
- Royal Knight, War Cog, Arbalétrier, Galleass, Royal Cannon, Cannon. Royal Knight: Heavy Cavalry that gains +3 bonus damage for 5 seconds after completing a charge. Arbalétrier: Crossbowman with +1 melee armor that can deploy a defensive Pavise to provide +5 ranged armor and +1 weapon range for 30 seconds. Cannon: Bombard replacement with more damage, mobility and no setup time. Galleass: Large war galley that has a long range forward mounted bombard. War Cog: Uniq
- When is French strongest?
- 3:40 — First Royal Knights raid (3:40 to 4:30) · 6:00 — 3-5 Knights with Archers (6:00 to 8:00) · 13:20 — Castle Keep push with Knights and Arbalétriers
Data from the open game data (aoe4world/data), patch 16.2.10884, public ranked statistics, and Layla Coach's battle simulator. Layla Coach is an independent tool, not affiliated with Microsoft, Relic Entertainment or World's Edge.