How to beat
Frenchas Byzantine
Matchup tips
Only 11 Limitanei so he's only mirroring the knight count. That's not where you want to be in this match up. You want to go for a two to one ratio there.
This matchup, Byzantines once they get to like 40-50 villagers, that's where the percentile scaling really starts to catch up to French. But early on, French have momentum because they're ahead in workers raw, and they have cheaper discount upgrades, and they play out for very valuable resources early on like the deer.
When you play against French, you'll instead just make a U shape around your TC because the cisterns can't be harassed down by the knights.
Against French pro scouts opening, after the initial knight there is a slowdown of about a minute with only scouts and eco upgrades. This gives the Byzantine player time to get cisterns up, towers on external berries and gold.
Later on in castle age, the real reason you go for that contract (Javelins) is those Camel Riders to keep the knights in check.
Going for Longbows is very greedy against the French.
Longbows are not bad against French. Javelins could stop archers and you have Camel Lord for knights, but if your real goal isn't to fight in the field and you want to go castle, longbow massing feels so much better than javelin massing. Once you get to 25-30 of those, that critical mass swarms over in these fights.
If you spam out a few Limitanei you can block pro scouts and guard your economy.
Byzantines, as long as they don't lose workers, they remain ahead percentile wise.
Byzantines doesn't really care if it gets a whole lot of sheep or not because they're so centered on olive oil and berries. That said, against a civilization like French, getting the sheep is a really good benefit still, not so much for the food, but because you're taking the food away from the French player who needs that to sustain knight production in feudal age.
The camel riders with the debuff just feels so good going into French. The camel debuff, when you're basically just negating one-fifth of the knights out there, feels really good, and the high base damage of the javelins plays fairly well into the knights.
When up against French, you cannot do early Hippodrome cavalry plays because French knights will shut them down.
Against French, a second TC is too risky; Golden Horn Tower gives an immediate technology advantage and is a much safer option.
Limitanei javelin is something that the French cannot really crack until men at arms and even then men at arms just feels like a weird choice for a French player.
They could be nasty if they charge through all of these archers. I like them as a meat shield, something for the archers to focus on and not get a lot done with. Eventually, you're going to get the camels out to help debuff the knights.
It's rare to see Byzantines try heavy cavalry against French because French knights are so good, but when the French player hasn't been able to scale knight production, it makes sense.
French Arbalétrier counter Byzantine Limitanei, crossbows, and mercenaries, making them the dominant unit in the matchup.
French Unique Units
French Landmarks
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