How to beat
Frenchas Rus
Matchup tips
He needs to place that second TC first. And this is usually how you keep up with a civilization like the French if you want to outscale them because Rus doesn't have an answer to dealing damage under that first TC at all.
You can't stay in feudal as Rus against French. You have worse knights than French, and your economy will get outscaled by faster French villager production.
French have no healing mechanic in feudal, so early harassment with scouts can be effective.
Against French, there's no hope in trying to steal their deer packs; go for castle age instead. That is where Rus will die if they attempt.
Rus knights with Boyar's Fortitude are comparable to French knights in Castle Age.
Every second you delay towards horse archers, you make your life more difficult. If French gets to Castle Age with 10+ Knights, horse archers will not work initially. Horse archers are very ineffective in small numbers against Knights.
The melee defense upgrade would help quite a bit against these Knights. It wouldn't save the army but would definitely be a buff to the horse archers.
I don't think you want to fight 40 horse archers against 40 foot archers, mostly because horse archers are expensive.
The sheep also help in a matchup like this. It provides Rus extra food and extra bounty. If the deer don't go as far as you'd like, you can make sure that French is hurting more on food as well. Three scouts can really help do this and gather information as the Royal Knights roam, giving you vision to see where they are trying to do damage.
School of Cavalry can start producing units immediately, whereas Rus has to wait until the stable comes online. This means French can get a knight out before Rus gets any other units.
Crossbows versus Arbalétriers is very much a French-favored affair.
Rush relics against French; the map is wide and Arbalétriers are not mobile, so exploit that.
French Unique Units
French Landmarks
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