How to beat
Frenchas Japanese
Matchup tips
As Japan, open with dark age spearmen in most situations against French.
It's easy for Japanese to keep trickling in a few extra spearmen, making it hard for double stable knights to find an opening. This also makes it easy for Japan to pivot into Onna-Musha instead of mounted samurai in Castle Age.
As Japan, adding more spearmen is better than trying to get mounted samurai early, because a couple mounted samurai can't stop 10+ diving knights.
Against mass French knights, Japan might need a second barracks to keep up spearman production.
The danger point for Japanese is when starting food runs out under French knight pressure; they must secure secondary berries while protecting gold.
The issue there always with the feudal age when you're up against the French, you need to actually be able to kill knights. If you fight with a knight and the knight doesn't go down, chivalry is eventually going to be coming in and that knight will be up to full HP after a short while. So, you always have to be able to take decisive engagements. If there's not a decisive engagement to be taken, you don't want to engage.
With Guild Hall, against Japanese you don't mind playing late because your Arbalétrier are better than Japanese crossbows.
Japanese cannot follow their typical fast castle into mass mounted samurai plan against French because they must respect French strong crossbows and feudal knights.
Arbalétrier with Pavise gives +5 ranged armor, making them very effective against Yumi archers.
Japanese dark age spear pressure on French gold can delay knight production, preventing French from scaling knights in feudal.
You get a couple of Shinobi on a knight, and that knight gets evaporated. Shinobi have huge bonus damage against melee.
Against a mass of Arbalétrier, what unit do you really make as Japanese? You got to make your own horsemen to get bonus damage, but they don't do much due to the gambeson upgrade. Your Onna-Musha are very expensive, tough to mass. And the French can just pump their own horsemen as a meat shield.
The Onna-Musha really pack a punch against those Royal Knights. And what's great about them, even though they are a little bit more expensive, they're going to be able to track them down. It's not like most crossbowmen that are on foot; you're going to be able to travel and take some of these down.
In the French matchup, Koka Township is weak: Shinobi lose to Royal Knights unless you have a lot, and scaling into Onna-Bugeisha and Spears isn't worth it. Kura Storehouse is a better choice.
Making Onna-Musha against French is a mistake: Arbalétrier and Horsemen perfectly counter the archery range play. On more open maps you might get away with Mounted Samurai and Onna-Musha, but on linear maps Arbalétrier dominate.
Against a French Arbalétrier mass, the Japanese goal is to get out of Castle Age as quickly as possible.
These Knights cost double what a Shinobi costs, so if you lose two Shinobi but kill a Knight, it's an even trade.
The Knights can't chase down the raiding Onna-Musha, so use them to keep the French on the back foot rather than taking head-on engagements.
Royal Institute gives royal bloodlines (instead of 230 health, they get 310) and crossbow stirrups for arbalétriers, so their attack speed is 25% faster, making them able to take down Mounted Samurai quickly.
Onna-Bugeisha have no bonus damage against arbalétriers, and because of gambison, arbalétriers are much tankier.
For Japan, their fishing boats are 45 wood instead of 75, so if you make two fishing boats you're already ahead on 10 wood compared to French with a dock and no house.
French Unique Units
French Landmarks
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