How to beat
Frenchas House of Lancaster
Matchup tips
The nice thing about going for dark age spears against French is one, you are slowing down that knight, but two, you start out with spears already. You don't have to be as cautious on the map knowing you've already got the counter ready to go. Of course, French is going to add some archers eventually, so that will become an issue. But for the first couple minutes, it puts you in a pretty safe spot.
The issue is that French just simply stays feudal. Has double the amount of knights that also heal and now you can't heal because you have Lancaster Castle instead of Abbey of Kings. The death comes at the second gold. When the first gold runs out for Lancaster, they move to the second and by then French is either aged up or still feudal and just has way more. Lancaster died that way three or four times in pro games.
Sometimes players got greedy and went for King's College, thinking their knights would be better than French knights. It never worked.
If you go for 2TC as House of Lancaster, opening with spears against French delays your timing by quite a bit, and they might still have horsemen where you want to place a TC or quickly turn into archers.
Spears and Earl's Guard. Perfect counter up against the Knights.
As House of Lancaster, you can go for six manors and look to play that feudal age. You can't exactly go fast castle with three manors; you're definitely going to die. But with six manors, I think you can get away with that and mount the defense pretty comfortably if you macro effectively in the early game.
Against French knights, prioritize the Collar of Esses upgrade before other unit upgrades to counter them effectively.
Knights in combination with spears is definitely going to work wonders against the French composition.
Going for King's College and Essence of the King (for +6 damage vs knights) is very strong against French knights and archers.
Without Essence of the King, demilancers don't pack the punch needed against French knights.
If French goes Guild Hall instead of Royal Institute, their knights won't have the immediate upgrades, so you don't need to fear them as much and you can take your time to boom.
Spearmen alone aren't enough against French knights; you need crossbows to supplement them.
French Unique Units
French Landmarks
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