If you have the Gathering Storm expansion, click here for the updated guide.

This guide is no longer updated, but will remain for the sake of those without the Gathering Storm expansion.

Note: This guide requires the Rise and Fall expansion.

Content from DLC packs (Poland, Vikings, Australia, Persia/Macedon, Nubia, Khmer/Indonesia) is marked as such.

The French court is the envy of the world. In a beautiful backdrop, we attract diplomats from all over the world to discuss how we might bring about the future. Away from the main halls and feasts, we covertly discover all the secrets of our guests. We know where their weaknesses lie. We know where their treasures are. And if they step out of line for one moment, their riches shall be ours - the imperial guard shall see to it.


This guide is divided into multiple sections explaining how best to use and play against this specific civ.

• The Outline details the mechanics of how the civilization's unique features work and what their start bias is (assuming they have one at all).
  
• The Victory Skew section describes to what extent the civ (and its individual leaders where applicable) are inclined towards particular victory routes. This is not a rating of its power, but rather a general indicator of the most appropriate route to victory.
  
• Multiple sections for Uniques explain in detail how to use each special bonus of the civilization.
  
• Administration describes some of the most synergistic governments, government buildings, policy cards, age bonuses, pantheons, religious beliefs, wonders, city-states and Great People for the civ. Only the ones with the most synergy with the civ's uniques are mentioned - these should be given more consideration than they would be for other civs but are not necessarily the "best" choices when playing as the civ for a given victory route.
  
• Finally, the Counter-Strategies discusses how best to play against the civ, including a consideration of leader agendas if the civ is controlled by a computer.

Note that all costs (production, science, culture, gold, etc.) mentioned within the guide assume a game played on the normal speed settings. To modify these values for other game speeds:

• Online: Divide by 2
  
• Quick: Divide by 1.5
  
• Epic: Multiply by 1.5
  
• Marathon: Multiply by 3

Terminology used in this guide and not in-game is explained here.

AoE (Area of Effect) - Describes bonuses or penalties that affect multiple tiles in a set radius. Positive examples include Factories and Stadiums (which by default offer production and happiness respectively to cities within a 6 tile radius unless they're within range of another building of the same type) and a negative example is nuclear weapons, which cause devastation over a wide radius.

Beelining - The strategy of obtaining a technology or civic quickly by only researching it and its prerequisites. Some deviation is allowed in the event that taking a technology or civic off the main track provides some kind of advantage that makes up for that deviation (either a source of extra science/culture or access to something necessary for a eureka or inspiration boost.

CA (Civ Ability) - The unique ability of a civilization, shared by all its leaders. Unlike unique units, buildings, districts and improvements, civ abilites do not have to be built.

Compact empires - Civs with cities close together. This is useful if you want to make use of districts that gain adjacency bonuses from other districts, maximise the number of copies of the same district in the same area, or to maximise the potential of area-of-effect bonuses later in the game.

Dispersed empires - Civs with cities that are spread out. This is useful if you want to ensure cities have plenty of room for both districts and tile improvements. Civs with unique tile improvements generally favour a more dispersed empire in order to make use of them, as do civs focused on wonder construction.

GWAM - Collective name for Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. All of them can produce Great Works that offer tourism and culture, making them important to anyone seeking a cultural victory.

LA (Leader Ability) - The unique ability of a specific leader, which like civ abilities do not have to be built. Usually but not always, they tend to be more specific in scope than civ abilities. Some leader abilities come with an associated unique unit on top of the standard one every civ has.

Prebuilding - Training a unit with the intention of upgrading it to a desired unit later. An example is building Slingers and upgrading them once Archery is unlocked.

Start bias - The kind of terrain, terrain feature or resource a civilization is more likely to start near. This is typically used for civilizations that have early bonuses dependent on a particular terrain type. There are five tiers of start bias; civs with a tier 1 start bias are placed before civs of tier 2 and so on, increasing their odds of receiving a favourable starting location.

Complete information on start biases within the game can be found in the Civilizations.xml file (find the Civ 6 folder in Steam's program files, then go through the Base, Assets, Gameplay and Data folders to find the file). DLC and Expansion civs have a similarly-named file in their corresponding folders. If a civilization is not listed as having a start bias there, it does not have one, even if you feel like you keep spawning in the same terrain when playing as that civ.

Super-uniques - Unique units that do not replace any others, and are hence particularly unique. Examples include India's Varu and Mongolia's Keshigs.

Tall empires - Empires that emphasise city development over expansion, usually resulting in fewer, but bigger, cities.

Uniques - Collective name for civ abilities, leader abilities, unique units, unique buildings, unique districts and unique improvements.

UA (Unique Ability) - A collective name for leader abilities and civ abilities.

UB (Unique Building) - A special building which may only be constructed in the cities of a single civilization, which replaces a normal building and offers a special advantage on top.

UD (Unique District) - A special district which may only be constructed in the cities of a single civilization, which replaces a normal district and offers some unique advantages on top. In some cases, there may be minor disadvantages as well, but these are always outweighed by the positive features. All unique districts cost half as much to construct relative to the regular districts they replace.

UI (Unique Improvement) - A special improvement that can only be built by the Builders of a single civilization. Unlike unique buildings or districts, these do not replace a regular improvement. Some require a technology to unlock, and many have their yields improved with later technologies. "UI" always refers to unique improvements in my guides and not to "user interface" or "unique infrastructure".

UU (Unique Unit) - A special unit that may only be built by a single civilization, and in some cases only when that civilization is led by a specific leader. These usually replace an existing unit and offer extra advantages (and occasionally minor disadvantages as well in exchange for bigger advantages).

Wide empires - Empires that emphasise expansion over city development, usually resulting in more, but smaller, cities.

France has a tier 3 start bias towards river tiles. This start bias may make it a bit easier to make use of Chateaux, but mostly it's useful for ensuring your capital has the maximum amount of housing possible.

• Double tourism from all world wonders
  
• +20% production towards medieval, renaissance and industrial-era wonders

• +1 level of diplomatic visibility to all met civilizations
  
• +1 Spy capacity at the Castles technology, and gain a free Spy
  
• All new Spies start at the Agent level with a free promotion (+1 level compared to normal)

An industrial-era melee infantry unit which does not replace anything

*Purchasing units with faith requires the Grand Master's Chapel government building, which requires either the medieval-era Divine Right or renaissance-era Exploration civics.

**Garde Impériale units may be trained beyond Satellites if you lack oil.


Notable features

• No resource requirement, unlike Musketmen
  
• 340 production cost, 42% higher than a Musketman (240) and 21% lower than Infantry (430)
  
• 65 strength, 10 more than Musketmen and 5 less than Infantry
  
• Maintenance cost of 5, 1 higher than a Musketman (4) and 1 lower than Infantry (6)
  
• +10 strength on the continent containing your capital
  
• +10 Great General Points when it kills a unit

*The owner of the wonder does not matter.

Enhancements

In this section, the civ is subjectively graded based on how much it leans towards a specific victory type - not how powerful it is. Scores of 3 or more mean the civ has at least a minor advantage towards the victory route.


Culture is clearly the strongest path to take. Double wonder tourism, an advantage to building wonders, tourism from Chateaux, additional tourism thanks to the appeal bonus of Chateaux (which can improve the yield of adjacent National Parks and Seaside Resorts) and an extra Spy for stealing Great Works with together makes France one of the most effective civs in the game at this route.

France certainly isn't bad at domination. Catherine de' Medici's diplomatic visibility bonus means you'll almost always have a higher level of diplomatic visibility with your opponents than they have with you, securing you at least a +3 strength bonus. If you want to go down this route, try to fight outside your home continent first if possible - that allows you to make the most of Garde Impériale units later and their substantial home-continent advantages.

Religion is generally the weakest victory path for France - the main advantages you have here are being able to build wonders like the Hagia Sophia faster, and getting a strength bonus in theological combat thanks to Catherine de' Medici's diplomatic visibility bonus.

Finally, science makes a possible backup route. The extra Spy Catherine de Medici allows you to build gives you an edge at stealing Eureka boosts, while faster construction of certain wonders like Oxford University can also contribute towards faster research.

Only a few turns in and I know exactly when Roosevelt's going to start building wonders.

The dark arts of subterfuge will serve you well - from the earliest turns of the game, when they will protect you from early rushes, to the final few turns, when they can delay an opponent's plans for a scientific victory buying time for your own win. This is largely a supportive ability - the core strategies of France shall be covered in the civ ability section.

There are two main parts to the ability: the Diplomatic Visibility boost, and the Spy bonuses.


Introduction

Diplomatic visibility is a mechanic that allows you to learn more about what other civs are up to. At the start of each turn, you may get messages about other civs founding cities, starting construction on wonders and so forth.


Use the "gossip" tab to recap what you found out within the last 10 turns. You can use this feature between your turns, so it gives you something to do while you wait.

Using Diplomatic Visibility

Civs can have between 0 and 4 diplomatic visibility with each other. A civ with a higher level of diplomatic visibility in another than vice versa will receive a stacking +3 strength bonus against them per level of difference, which works for military and religious units alike. Catherine de' Medici's diplomatic visibility bonus means France will nearly always have a +3 strength boost over other full civs from the start of the game - quite useful for defending against early rushes, or even initiating one yourself.

In addition, the higher level of diplomatic visibility you have with another civ, the more information you'll find out about them. Unlike the strength bonus, the other civ's level of diplomatic visibility on you doesn't matter.

*Does not work against human players; only AI civs.

Maximising Diplomatic Visibility

To gain diplomatic visibility, you can do the following to boost access to all civs:

• Have Catherine de Medici's leader ability, giving you Limited access by default.
  
• Research the renaissance-era Printing technology.
  
• Use the modern-era Great Merchant Mary Katherine Goddard.

And the following works for the specific civ:

• Send a delegation (25 gold) or an embassy (50 gold, requires the Diplomatic Service civic).
  
• Send a trade route to the civ.
  
• Send a Spy on a Listening Post mission to the civ, OR be their ally (requires the medieval-era Civil Service civic)
  
• Mongolia's civ ability allows them to gain +1 diplomatic visibility with any civ they have a trading post present in.

Catherine de Medici only needs a delegation with an AI civ to reveal their secret agenda for the rest of the game. Add a trade route and the Printing technology, and you can reach the highest level of access without too much trouble. If you manage to make use of Mary Katherine Goddard as well, you can get the maximum level of access even with civs that hate you - ideal for working out where spaceship parts are being built so you can disrupt them to buy time.

Conclusion

This bonus takes some pressure off the early-game by providing a +3 strength bonus against most would-be invaders. It also helps you become more aware of competition in wonder races and for scientific victory, allowing you to respond accordingly in time.



I've just researched Castles, and now my espionage is second to none.

France's Garde Impériale UU encourages you to get to Military Science early, but thankfully both Castles and Printing are en route. Both come with their own wonders, and while Printing boosts your diplomatic visibility with all civs, Castles increases your Spy capacity by 1 and also gives you an Agent-level Spy for free.

Around that time, you should be able to pick up a tier 2 government on the technology tree. Monarchy is much faster to unlock, but Merchant Republic offers a better number of economic policy card slots to complement your cultural advantages. With a tier 2 government, you'll be able to build the Intelligence Agency, which grants another point of Spy capacity, a free Spy, and will make all your Spies more effective as if they were one level stronger.

Having early Spies means you can make life harder for other civs before they have a chance to adequately respond. What exactly you can do with the Spies will be covered later.

Spies are expensive when first available (225 production, rising with every Spy you train - and keep in mind they can't be purchased!) While your biggest cities handle wonders, dedicate your mid-level cities to training Spies.

Aside from Catherine de' Medici's Spy at Castles, and the extra one from the Intelligence Agency Government Plaza building, your Spy capacity will increase further with the following civics and technologies:

• Diplomatic Service (Renaissance era civic - also needed for the useful Machiavellianism diplomatic policy card which lets you build Spies faster and makes their operations faster)
  
• Nationalism (Industrial era civic - also needed to form corps and offers the Grande Armee military policy card allowing you to build Garde Impériale units faster)
  
• Ideology (Modern era civic - a prerequisite of all modern-era governments)
  
• Computers (Atomic era technology - also doubles tourism output)
  
• Cold War (Atomic era civic - on the way to Social Media and the tourism boost from the Online Communities economic policy card)

You'll notice that all of these civics and technologies are useful in their own right, so you don't need to worry too much about optimising research paths with Spies in mind.


Spies can be assigned to protect districts in your own cities (counter-espionage) or sent to the cities of various civs in order to carry out missions. Spy missions take eight turns by default, but this can be lowered by two with either the Machiavellianism diplomatic policy card or the Linguist promotion. With both, missions take just four turns each.

Here's a list of all possible missions:

Be careful how you use your Spies, as dead Spies cost a lot to replace. You can compromise between speed and safety when training Spies by using the Gain Sources mission followed by things like Siphon Funds, before switching to the more useful missions like Great Work Heist.

If a Spy is discovered during a mission, you have a choice of how they should escape:

• Foot - Takes four turns, but has the highest chance of avoiding being killed. This is usually your best option.
  
• Vehicle - Requires a Commercial Hub in the city. Takes three turns and has a reasonably low chance of being caught. If the Spy has the Ace Driver promotion, you should be able to reliably take this option.
  
• Boat - Requires a Harbour in the city. Takes two turns but is pretty risky!
  
• Aeroplane - Requires an Aerodrome in the city. Takes just one turn but is practically a deathwish for inexperienced Spies. Of course, you could always use this if your Spy has a bad set of promotions and you don't mind too much if it gets killed.

If you succeed, the rewards are great. Aside from the direct rewards of the mission, Spies gain a level for every successful mission other than Gain Sources or Listening Post. At first, Spies start off at Recruit level, but can be promoted to Agent, Special Agent and finally Master Spy (they cannot gain levels beyond that point). Catherine de Medici makes France's Spies start immediately at Agent level. Every level gained makes Spies more effective at all missions, and each level up also offers a choice of three random promotions. A list of all of them follows.

• Your diplomatic visibility bonus makes your units stronger hence cutting down the amount of defence you civ need early on.
  
• Maximise diplomatic visibility with delegations and, later in the game when you need the tourism bonus, trade routes.
  
• Use medium cities to produce Spies while your biggest cities handle wonders.
  
• Great Work Heists and Steal Tech Boost are generally the best missions for your Spies. Fabricate Scandal is situationally very effective as well.

While Catherine de' Medici's leader ability offers some useful support throughout the game, France's civ ability is the core of the civ, encouraging you to seek a cultural victory by obtaining as many wonders as possible. Some wonders you should build yourself to take advantage of the 20% production boost in the medieval, renaissance and industrial eras, but others you can capture with help from the Garde Impériale UU.

The amount of tourism wonders generate starts at 2 per turn, plus 1 per era beyond the era the wonder is first available. When the wonder is constructed doesn't matter, so if the Pyramids are constructed in the ancient era, they will generate the same amount of tourism in the information era as if it was only just constructed. France doubles this, and the Computers technology (available in the modern era) doubles this again.


Every wonder built creates +3 era score, and another if it's of the current game era or later. This means a big emphasis upon building wonders can lead to quite a few Golden Ages! A modern, atomic or information-era Golden Age lets you use the Wish You Were Here Golden Age dedication for an extra +50% boost to tourism in cities with governors.


As tempting as it may be, avoid spending time on wonders early on. Instead, try to expand your empire rapidly (preferably to at least five cities) while building Campuses and Commercial Hubs in most cities, as well as Industrial Zones and/or Theatre Squares in select cities. The aim here is to get a strong base for building wonders, Spies and military units later. Try not to position your cities too close together so you have plenty of space for farms to help them grow, mines for production and other tiles for wonders.

Once you've reached the Apprenticeship technology for Industrial Zones, you may take a detour to Education, but otherwise it's best to focus on the bottom part of the technology tree. It's fairly easy to beeline Military Science (where Garde Impériale units come available), and the Alhambra, Kilwa Kisiwani and Forbidden Palace wonders are on the way as well as Castles for the free Spy. Stack most or all of your trade routes in one strong city and you can manage to build a wonder at a reasonable pace.

On the civics tree, you have two government options to aim for after researching Political Philosophy and Drama and Poetry:

• The fast route - Aim to get Divine Right as soon as possible once Political Philosophy is done for the Gothic Architecture policy card (+15% production to medieval/renaissance-era wonders). Adopt the Monarchy government so you can get to work on the Intelligence Agency building and its Spy bonuses.
  
• The slow route - Aim for Exploration first instead for the Merchant Republic government, and pick up Divine Right afterwards.

The slow route gives you a government that offers more appropriate bonuses, but will put you at a disadvantage when it comes to unlocking new wonders. The fast route gives you a bit more time to build wonders before Garde Impériale units are unlocked.

With your government sorted out, the Diplomatic Service civic will be useful for the extra Spy capacity while Humanism allows you to build Chateaux. Both those civics are needed for Nationalism (via The Enlightenment), which allows you to form corps and also unlocks the Grand Armee policy card, allowing you to build Garde Impériale units faster.

With the Military Science technology unlocked, the problem now is that you have four different things to produce demanding your attention: Wonders, Spies, Garde Impériale units (along with siege support such as Battering Rams) and Builders to construct Chateaux with. Focus on Garde Impériale units at first until you have a decent army, then use your major cities for wonders while your mid-level cities get some Spies built. Builders can be purchased with gold, unlike wonders and Spies, so if you need any for Chateaux, just buy them.


Once you have Military Science and have got to work building Garde Impériale units, your cities will generally be too tied up in production to be able to build many wonders. As such, you can work on the upper branch of the technology tree towards Industrialisation without much trouble. There, you'll have access to Factories for a welcome production boost, as well as a shot at the powerful Ruhr Valley wonder.

After that, it's not a bad idea to work towards Flight. Both Astronomy and Scientific Theory along the way have good wonders (Potala Palace and Oxford University respectively) but more importantly, Flight will make your Chateaux start contributing towards tourism. Beyond that, the next target is Computers, which doubles your tourism output and gives you +1 Spy capacity.

Finally, researching either Telecommunications or Robotics takes you into the information era, making all your wonders produce the maximum amount of tourism, though keep in mind researching something before its corresponding game era greatly increases the research costs (+20% for one era's difference, +44% for two, +73% for three). Telecommunications is faster to research, but Robotics comes with a handy +1 production boost to Pastures. Garde Impériale conquests should hopefully provide you with enough science to make this research path viable.

There's plenty of wonders in the game to choose from, and knowing which ones to go for can be difficult. So, here's a list of all medieval, renaissance and industrial-era wonders in a rough chronological order and a description of how useful they are for France.

Huey Teocalli

Requires the medieval-era Military Tactics technology.
Must be constructed on a lake tile adjacent to land.
+1 amenity for each lake tile adjacent to this wonder. All lake tiles in your empire receive +1 food and +1 production.

This is a rather terrain-dependent wonder. The bonus food and production from lakes is alright, but what really sells the wonder is the strong amenity boost. If you have a very big lake near you, consider going for it. If not, it's probably one to capture later.

Kilwa Kisiwani

Requires the medieval-era, Machinery technology.
Must be constructed on a land tile adjacent to coast.
Gain +3 envoys. This city gains +15% of the yield corresponding to each suzerain city-state. If you are suzerain of at least two of the same type, all your cities gain that +15% bonus.

A situationally-powerful wonder, which is most effective when there's at least two industrial city-states you can be suzerain over. It's on the way to Printing and Military Science, interacts well with the Monarchy government (which comes at the same civic as Gothic Architecture and its wonder production bonus), and neatly complements your Spies' Fabricate Scandal mission, so you've got a good shot at getting a lot out of this wonder.

Hagia Sophia

Requires the medieval-era Education technology.
Must be constructed on flat land adjacent to a Holy Site district, and you must have founded a religion.
+4 faith. Missionaries and Apostles can use their spread religion function one additional time.

This is a pretty competitive wonder and for a good reason - extra charges from Missionaries and Apostles is great for those seeking religious victory. France, however, generally isn't on that path. It's usually a wonder to pass up on.

Alhambra

Requires the medieval-era Castles technology.
Must be constructed on hills adjacent to an Encampment district.
+2 amenities, +1 Great General Points, +1 military policy card and provides the same defensive bonuses on its tile as a fort.

It allows you to get most of the military benefit of Monarchy while running the Merchant Republic government - great if you're taking the slower civic path but still want to put your Garde Impériale to good use, but is a good wonder to go for anyway due to its convienient placement on the technology tree.

Angkor Wat
Requires the Khmer and Indonesia Civilization and Scenario Pack.

Requires the medieval-era Medieval Faires civic.
Must be constructed adjacent to an Aqueduct.
+1 population in all currently owned cities and +1 housing in all owned cities.

It's on the way to Humanism, isn't the most competitive wonder of its time, and offers a reasonable bonus - extra population and housing in every city helps you prepare for building future wonders.

Chichen Itza

Requires the medieval-era Guilds civic.
Must be constructed on a rainforest tile.
+2 culture and +1 production for all rainforest tiles in this city.

A reasonably niche wonder, though boosted rainforest tiles can be pretty nice for getting you through the civics tree faster. Later on in the game, you may need to cut down some rainforest to maximise tile appeal. Not a high priority wonder to pick up, but not the worst around.

Kotoku-In

Requires the medieval-era Divine Right civic.
Must be constructed adjacent to a Holy Site with a Temple.
Gain four Warrior Monks corresponding to your founded religion, or your majority religion if you have not founded one, or the majority religion of this city if you meet neither of the other requirements.

Warrior Monks can offer a good defence prior to Garde Impériale units arriving, but without a founded religion of your own they might not quite achieve their full potential. It's also a pretty competitive wonder, and the need for a Holy Site with a Temple is quite a strict requirement for a non-religious civ.

Mont St. Michel

Requires the medieval-era Divine Right civic.
Must be constructed on a floodplains or marsh tile.
+2 faith, +2 relic slots, all Apostles gain the Martyr promotion for free.

One of the less relevant wonders for France. Still, if you have a city with a Temple and a religion, you can buy Apostles, send them in the lands of a religious civ of another faith, and fight their religious units until they die for some relics. It's a decent way to convert faith into tourism before you have access to Naturalists. It's also a relatively uncompetitive wonder, so you can hold off on it and pick it up later.

Casa de Contratación

Requires the renaissance-era, Cartography technology.
Must be constructed adjacent to a Government Plaza.
Gain +3 Governor promotions. Cities on foreign continents with Governors gain +15% gold, production and faith. +3 Great Merchant Points.

A bit of a mixed bag for France. Getting Governor promotions will be useful for making the most of the Wish You Were Here Golden Age dedication later in the game, and a production bonus is very welcome, but you often won't often have many cities beyond your home continent.

Venetian Arsenal

Requires the renaissance-era Mass Production technology.
Must be constructed on a coastal tile adjacent to an Industrial Zone district.
+2 Great Engineer Points, producing naval units in this city results in two units.

Great for water-heavy maps, and also is great against naval-focused civs - you can put up a defence against them faster, and you'll also deny them this wonder for themselves. Once you have the Cultural Heritage civic, consider covering up any shipwrecks in neutral land with spare naval units until your Archaeologists can get them.

Great Zimbabwe

Requires the renaissance-era Banking technology.
Must be constructed on a tile both adjacent to cattle and a Commercial Hub district with a Market.
+5 gold, +2 Great Merchant Points, +1 trade route capacity, trade routes from this city receive +2 gold for every bonus resource within this city's territory.

With some of the strictest adjacency requirements, this wonder is pretty uncompetitive. That's rather nice if you're putting off Banking on the way to a Telecommunications/Robotics beeline. The wonder's effect can be pretty powerful, and in a city with a lot of bonus resources, you can end up with masses of gold.

Forbidden City

Requires the renaissance-era Printing technology.
Must be constructed on flat land adjacent to the city centre.
+5 culture, +1 wildcard policy slot.

Regardless of how you want to play, a wildcard policy slot is always good - especially if you're taking the faster civic route and hence the Monarchy government. Printing is on the way to Military Science, so you have a good shot at picking up this wonder.

St. Basil's Cathedral

Requires the renaissance-era, Reformed Church civic.
Must be constructed adjacent to the city centre.
All tundra tiles in this city gain +1 food, +1 production and +1 culture. +100% religious tourism in the city. 3 relic slots.

France's lack of a religious emphasis makes it hard to make the most out of this wonder, though it nonetheless can be helpful raising the yields in a city near tundra to a standard competitive with the rest of your empire.

Potala Palace

Requires the renaissance-era Astronomy technology.
Must be constructed on a hill adjacent to a mountain.
+2 culture, +3 faith, +1 diplomatic policy slot.

It's an inferior wonder compared to the Forbidden City, but it's still worthwhile as an extra diplomatic policy card means you can take bonuses for Spies and bonuses to City-State envoys or trade with allies simultaneously.

Taj Mahal

Requires the renaissance-era Humanism civic.
Must be constructed adjacent to a river.
Historic moments worth at least 2 era score gain +1 more.

There are a lot of sources of era score, but the one most relevant for France is the +3 or +4 you get every time you construct a wonder. The Taj Mahal makes it easier to secure those all-important late-game Golden Ages for the Wish You Were Here dedication bonus, and neatly comes at the same civic as Chateaux! That makes it one of the best wonders of its era for France.

Ruhr Valley

Requires the industrial-era Industrialisation technology.
Must be constructed adjacent to a river as well as an Industrial Zone containing a Factory.
+20% production for this city, and +1 production for every mine and quarry in this city.

A powerful wonder that will help you construct further wonders more effectively in the same city. The problem is, you should be heading for Military Science before Industrialisation for a more effective Garde Impériale force, and this wonder is competitive.

Oxford University

Requires the industrial-era Scientific Theory technology.
Must be constructed on flat grassland or plains adjacent to a Campus district with a University.
+3 Great Scientist Points, +2 Great Work of Writing slots, +20% science in this city, and gain two random technologies.

Scientific Theory is on the way to Flight, Radio and other useful technologies at the top of the technology tree, so you've got a decent shot at this rather effective wonder. Two random technologies for free could be strong or relatively weak, but either way it saves you some time researching, and the science boost is helpful for the Telecommunications/Robotics beeline.

Statue of Liberty

Requires the industrial-era Civil Engineering civic.
Must be constructed on a coastal tile adjacent to both land an a Harbour district.
Grants +2 free Settlers. All cities within 6 tiles are always 100% loyal.

Not a very useful wonder for France on the whole. If you can build it near the border of another civ that shares your continent, it does make Garde Impériale conquests easier, but generally this wonder arrives too late for that to be worthwhile. As such, you'll mostly be building this for the tourism, if you build it at all.

Bolshoi Theatre

Requires the industrial-era Opera and Ballet civic.
Must be constructed on flat land adjacent to a Theatre Square district.
+2 Great Writer Points, +2 Great Musician Points, +1 Great Work of Writing slot, +1 Great Work of Music slot, gain two random civics.

A reasonable wonder for cultural victories, and its placement on the civics tree makes it uncompetitive. Gaining two random civics should make up for the small detour on the civics tree, while additional Great Writer and Musician points is nice to have around. There's certainly better options around, but it's a wonder one of your mid-sized cities can work on without too much risk of losing it.

Big Ben

Requires the industrial-era Economics technology.
Must be constructed adjacent to a river as well as a Commercial Hub with a Bank.
+6 gold, +3 Great Merchant Points, +1 economic policy slot, doubles current treasury.

The wonder is moderately competitive. When you're building it, try to avoid spending any gold as all the gold you'll have accumulated in that time will be doubled once the wonder's complete. That money will be useful for buying things like Builders, cultural buildings and Archaeologists. More importantly, you'll gain an economic policy card, which helps give you more flexibility in regards to which bonuses you can choose from.

Hermitage

Requires the industrial-era Natural History civic.
Must be constructed adjacent to a river and not on desert or tundra.
+3 Great Artist Points, +4 Great Work of Art slots.

Gives you somewhere to store Great Art that you steal via Spies (or maybe even acquire the conventional way) so you can squeeze in an extra Archaeological Museum in your empire.


The easiest part of France's civ ability is the mechanics. Bonus production for certain wonders and bonus tourism for all wonders is straightforward. However, the placement of the Gothic Architecture economic policy card, the Chateaux improvement and the Garde Impériale UU complicates France's research paths in the exact time this bonus is the most relevant. You can still secure plenty of wonders, but remember that you can get a lot out of other bonuses, too.

If France's civ ability wasn't enough tourism for you, Chateaux take that even further. Offering a decent sum of culture when adjacent to a wonder, they'll provide quite a lot of tourism with Flight - and even more with Computers.

The catch, however, is in their tricky placement requirements. Chateaux have to be next to a river, and you may have relatively few spots which are both adjacent to a river and a wonder. Having spread out cities helps you to grow them larger (as you have more room for farms) and will make maximising the number of high-yield Chateaux easier. Garde Impériale conquests will also help with this - capturing wonders from other civs means your wonders will be spread out among a large number of cities, also giving you more free space for squeezing in Chateaux. Having said that, you wouldn't want a city to work too many Chateaux at a time anyway considering they don't offer food or production.

Until you have the Flight technology, it's a good idea to only construct Chateaux adjacent to wonders, and you should also be careful about which cities are working them. If a city is within range, entering the citizen screen allows you to swap the tile to the city's control - do this so your Chateaux are worked by cities that can spare the citizens, not your main wonder-building metropolises.

Chateau improvements will offer you plenty of culture for getting through the civics tree quickly. You'll want Nationalism for corps and the policy card boosting the production of Garde Impériale units, the top part of the civic tree for various cultural bonuses, a tier three government, and the path to Cold War for extra Spies. Social Media offers a powerful tourism boost with the Online Communities policy card, so getting to it sooner is also very useful.

Placing Chateaux adjacent to luxury resources grants +1 gold, but having a tile adjacent to a river, a wonder and a luxury resource is pretty rare. As such, that isn't really a bonus you need to concern yourself with.


With Flight, all wonder-adjacent Chateaux are worth 4 tourism each. With Computers as well, it's up to 8. You don't even need to work them for the tourism bonus!

In addition to culture, tourism and gold, Chateaux also create appeal in adjacent tiles. This can be useful for maximising the housing in Neighbourhoods as well as the tourism in National Parks and Seaside Resorts. Just because France gets a lot of tourism from wonders doesn't mean you should neglect these means of generating tourism! Garde Impériale wars may capture quite a few Holy Sites, giving you the faith you need to set up National Parks.

Late on in the game, you may want to start constructing Chateaux near smaller cities even if they lack a nearby wonder, as it's better to get four points of tourism now than the potential for tourism in fifty turns or so.

Ultimately, Chateaux offer a helpful complement to culture and tourism from wonders. The placement requirements are tricky, but this isn't an improvement you need to work in vast quantities anyway.

It looks like a defensive unit, it sounds like a defensive unit, and it's very good at defence, but the Garde Impériale is at its best when it's expanding your empire. Going on the warpath might seem strange for a civ which has a wonder construction bonus at the same time, but successful conquests of wonders and other civs' lands will do far more for you than sitting back and spending all the time building your own wonders will.

Like all unique units, Garde Impériale units are most effective if built as soon as possible. Unfortunately, you can't upgrade any units into them, but it is pretty easy to beeline the Military Science technology. Build a few along with a couple of Battering Rams or Siege Towers and you'll be ready to go against any enemy that hasn't unlocked urban defences with Steel yet. Given the configuration of the tech tree, that could take quite some time!


Mapuche shares Paris' continent and as such is vulnerable. You can usually find 1-2 other civs sharing your home continent in a given game. Cities not on your continent may be worthwhile to avoid unless the civ is particularly vulnerable or has a particularly high concentration of wonders.


Garde Impériale units have 75 strength when on your capital's continent. Add Catherine de' Medici's diplomatic visibility advantage, and they're usually up to 78. Use a Spy for the Listening Post operation in a city of your enemy, and they'll provide another point of diplomatic visibility - raising the strength to 81 unless the other civ's boosting their diplomatic visibility on you. That strength is better than Infantry corps at a time you'll be mostly facing Musketmen. If you beelined Military Science particularly quickly, the enemies you face might not even have that.


Garde Impériale units on your home continent are strong enough to take on a Musketman army, and will make mincemeat out of most other pre-industrial corps and armies. Considering you get +1 era score every time you kill a corps or army with a unit, it can be a nice little complement to your era score from wonder-building.

Though there's some overlap with England's Redcoats, there's also a few notable distinctions - Garde Impériale are better in defence, but England's Redcoats have more overall territory their bonus is relevant in on maps of Small size or larger (though on duel-size maps, Garde Impériale are useful everywhere while Redcoats can't use their strength boost). Finally, Redcoats can disembark cheaply while Garde Impériale units gain 10 Great General Points for every kill.

Gaining Great General Points on a kill can help you a renaissance or industrial-era Great General to complement your forces without you needing to invest heavily in Encampments - considering how much production you need for wonders, Spies and this unit, the saving is very welcome.

Your goal will be to march through your home continent, taking every city with a wonder you can. It's true that you'll ruin your relations with other civs in the process and maybe trigger an emergency or two from taking capitals, but that doesn't really matter too much if your defences are up to scratch. You'll get lots of tourism directly from the wonders, and more in potential Chateau spots.


This city's wonders (not including the Pyramids - they belong to a different Mapuche city) will be worth 124 tourism once I reach the information era and have the Computers technology - even more so with the Wish You Were Here Golden Age dedication. That certainly makes investing into a few Garde Impériale rather than going all-out with wonders worth it.

• Try to get Military Science as soon as possible once Apprenticeship is done to get a head start training these units.
  
• Bring along some Battering Rams or Siege Towers to help deal with cities (Bombards or Artillery should be used instead once your opponents have the Steel technology).
  
• Try to capture every wonder on your home continent.

Note that the Administration sections strictly cover the options that have particularly good synergy with the civ's uniques. These are not necessarily the best choices, but rather options you should consider more than usual if playing this civ relative to others.


Tier One

Classical Republic is usually the best choice here. A good selection of policy card slots, the helpful amenity bonus and also extra Great Person Points. Autocracy comes with a wonder-construction bonus and can make your Government Plaza city into a great place to start building them.

Bigger cities are more capable of building wonders, so get the Audience Chamber government building as your first choice.

Tier Two

Merchant Republic seems an obvious choice due to its high number of economic policy cards complementing a wonder-building playstyle, but you can save a lot of crucial time getting to key civics if you just take Monarchy instead. Monarchy also has the advantage of having plenty of military policy cards to complement Garde Impériale wars.

You'll obviously want the Intelligence Agency to complement Catherine de' Medici's Spy bonuses.

Tier Three

Democracy is a reliable choice with a good set of policy cards and housing bonuses, but if you're still building plenty of wonders, Communism's stronger production bonus can be more helpful.

Take the National History Museum as your tier three Government Plaza building so you have plenty of capacity for Great Works.


Medieval Era

Aesthetics (Economic, requires Medieval Faires) - Wonder construction can lead to some impressive Theatre Square adjacency bonuses - you can build on them further with this policy card.

Gothic Architecture (Economic, requires Divine Right) - With this, you'll have an impressive 35% production bonus for medieval and renaissance-era wonders.

Serfdom (Economic, requires Feudalism) - Extra Builder charges helps you develop cities quickly, which is important for making them ready to build wonders. It also means you can afford to construct Chateaux without much trouble, and redevelop cities captured by Garde Impériale units.

Renaissance Era

Machiavellianism (Diplomatic, requires Diplomatic Service) - The production bonus to Spies makes this policy a must, and taking two turns off Spy operation times (four for the Fabricate Scandal mission) makes Spies considerably more effective.

Industrial Era

Grand Armee (Military, requires Nationalism) - Allows you to train Garde Impériale units faster.

Grand Opera (Economic, requires Opera and Ballet) - Bigger cities are better at building wonders, and building wonders boosts Theatre Square adjacency significantly. As such, it's easy for France to make the most of this policy card.

Native Conquest (Military, requires Colonialism) - If you've beelined Military Science reasonably well, you'll usually be fighting armies of earlier eras with Garde Impériale units. The gold you can earn is a good way to pay for their maintenance.

Skyscrapers (Economic, requires Civil Engineering) - You'll have a useful 35% production bonus towards industrial-era wonders with this policy card, and 15% for the small number of post-industrial wonders.

Modern Era

Nuclear Espionage (Diplomatic, requires Nuclear Programme) - Need to catch up on technology? Pick up this policy card, send Spies to other civs' Campuses and enjoy double the usual number of Eureka boosts.

Police State (Diplomatic, requires Ideology) - Reduces enemy Spy effectiveness in your lands, at the expense of a little loyalty. This allows you to use all your Spies offensively without having to worry too much about enemy Spies in your lands.

Atomic Era

Cryptography (Diplomatic, requires Cold War) - Take this with Machiavellianism and enjoy very powerful Spies.


Only bonuses with notable synergy with the civ's uniques are covered here.

Isolationism (Dark Age, Classical to Industrial eras) - Once you're done settling cities, this policy card's only downside is that it requires a wildcard slot. Getting +2 production and food from every internal trade route means you can stack a lot in a city, and watch it both grow quickly and build wonders much faster.

Elite Forces (Dark Age, Industrial to Information eras) - Due to the cost of Garde Impériale units, you'll probably want them in relatively small numbers - keeping down the cost of this Dark Age wildcard. Gaining experience twice as fast will help them get to key promotions reducing their incoming damage, increasing their damage output and adding extra movement speed, helping you conquer faster.

To Arms! (Dedication, Industrial to Information eras) - By the time this dedication can be picked, you should have some Garde Impériale units, and other civs should have some corps and armies they can fight for era score.

Heartbeat of Steam (Golden Age, Industrial to Modern eras) - Helps you build industrial-era wonders even faster, especially thanks to the way it makes Campuses add their science yield to production.

Wish You Were Here (Golden Age, Modern to Information eras) - A must-have Golden Age dedication bonus for France, it boosts the tourism of all World Wonders in cities with Governors present by 50%.

Bodyguard of Lies (Dedication, Atomic to Information eras) - France's extra Spy makes this a reasonable source of era score in the atomic era.

Bodyguard of Lies (Golden Age, Atomic to Information eras) - Spies can get to new cities much faster, and their operations will take two fewer turns (four for the Fabricate Scandal mission). Combined with Machiavellianism, this lets you squeeze in roughly twice as much sabotage, Great Work thefts and so on.

Relevant food or production pantheons will be useful for getting cities ready to construct wonders, but which specific one is best depends on your starting location.

Earth Goddess - Chateaux add appeal to adjacent tiles, which makes it easier to generate lots of faith out of this pantheon. You can then use the faith for things like purchasing Naturalists with or Great Person patronage.

God of Healing - Even if you never build a Holy Site, Garde Impériale conquests might result in you having a few. The healing bonus on offer here helps them recover faster, ensuring your wars are more effective.

Fertility Rites - Although it's not particularly strong as pantheons go, having your cities grow faster will still be helpful for making them ready to build wonders sooner.


You can have one founder, one follower, one enhancer and one worship belief.

Defender of the Faith (Enhancer) - Your homelands will be extremely secure with this belief and the Garde Impériale unit. With Catherine de' Medici's diplomatic visibility on top, they'll typically fight at 88 strength - just two points short of Mechanised Infantry for just over half the cost, so this will make your unique unit strong enough to protect you for the remainder of the game.

Divine Inspiration (Follower) - Lots of wonders means lots of tourism. With this belief, it also means lots of faith, which can be fed back into tourism via Naturalists and National Parks.

Meeting House (Worship) - Every bit of production helps when constructing wonders.


Brussels (Industrial) - Hold onto this bonus and you'll have a 35% production bonus to medieval, renaissance and industrial era wonders. Add Gothic Architecture (medieval/renaissance eras) or Skyscrapers (industrial era) for an impressive 50% bonus. Be sure to use a Spy to keep spamming the Fabricate Scandal mission in Brussels so other civs won't rob you of your suzerain status.

Palenque (Scientific) - Faster city growth for cities with a Campus is really helpful early in the game when you're trying to grow cities ready to construct wonders. Requires the Vikings Scenario Pack.

All wonders from the medieval, renaissance and industrial eras are covered in the second half of the section on France's civ ability. The most useful of those wonders for France typically are the Alhambra, Forbidden City, Potala Palace, Ruhr Valley, Taj Mahal, and Kilwa Kisiwani if there's at least two industrial city-states in the game. Angkor Wat, Big Ben and Oxford University are also good, but have less synergy with France's typical playstyle. The Bolshoi Theatre and the Hermitage are alright cultural victory-leaning wonders if you can spare the production for them.

Furthermore, all early wonders are useful to France due to their high tourism contribution. Generally, you should be capturing those rather than directly building them. Ones with particular synergy with France's uniques are listed below.

Hanging Gardens (Ancient era, Irrigation technology) - As much as this wonder's cheap cost can make it tempting, there's no shame in waiting to capture it later. The growth bonus is helpful when you're trying to develop cities to build further wonders, and +2 housing really helps grow a city.

Temple of Artemis (Ancient era, Archery technology) - Creates one powerful early city if you can supply enough food to fill the housing capacity, ready to get through lots of mid-game wonders.

Apadana (Classical era, Political Philosophy civic) - If you have an especially strong city that can build multiple wonders, you can get a lot out of the Apadana. Use the envoys to unlock 3 and 6-envoy bonuses from industrial city-states, and it'll be easier to construct future wonders. Requires the Persia and Macedon Civilization and Scenario Pack.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Classical era, Defensive Tactics civic) - Getting an extra charge from Great Engineers is particularly helpful for those which offer production boosts to wonders.

Cristo Redentor (Modern era, Mass Media civic) - Well-positioned Chateaux can make some strong Seaside Resorts (though, admittedly, so can second-growth woodlands, but they don't offer tourism in their own right, and city parks, though they can't be placed adjacent to each other). Cristo Redentor makes those Seaside Resorts doubly effective, while also making any sources of religious tourism you may have captured or acquired otherwise more effective.

Eiffel Tower (Modern era, Steel technology) - Chateaux add appeal. So does the Eiffel Tower. High appeal makes strong National Parks and Seaside Resorts, which in turn increases your tourism output.


Keep in mind only the Great People with the most synergy with French uniques are covered here - there's perfectly fine ones not listed here with good bonuses for cultural victory like tourism multipliers, but it should be obvious in-game that they're worth going for. All renaissance and industrial-era Great Generals as well as GWAMs can be useful, but it would be redundant to list them all.

Medieval Era

Bi Sheng (Great Engineer) - Allows you to get Printing's Eureka without having to take a detour to Education, cutting the amount of time before you can reach Garde Impériale units.

Isidore of Miletus (Great Engineer) - The earliest Great Engineer to offer two one-off boosts to wonder construction. Note that your percentage-based wonder multipliers will increase the production you get from this Great Person!

Renaissance Era

Filippo Brunelleschi (Great Engineer) - Offers two one-off boosts to wonder construction.

Industrial Era

James Watt (Great Engineer) - Because you'll be typically heading to Military Science before Industrialisation, you may be a bit late to factories. James Watt doesn't care if you have Industrialisation or not - he'll still build an enhanced Factory ensuring you can still construct wonders and units at a decent pace.

Gustave Eiffel (Great Engineer) - Offers two one-off boosts to wonder construction.

Napoleon Bonaparte (Great General) - Aside from making his own soldiers stronger via his passive bonus, Napoleon can create an early army with a unit. A Garde Impériale army has 92 strength on their own continent (keep around another renaissance/industrial Great General to get up to 97, plus Catherine's visibility bonus for 100) and will typically kill Cavalry units in a single hit!

Modern Era

Alvar Aalto (Great Engineer) - Extra appeal for a city complements the appeal boost of Chateaux.

Mary Katherine Goddard (Great Merchant) - With the Printing technology, you now have the penultimate level of diplomatic access with all civs as a baseline. You can reach Top Secret level with just an embassy, a trade route or a Spy using the Listening Post mission - the last of which works even in war-time, making France the only civ that can get to the top level of diplomatic visibility at war. It also helps you with warfare by guaranteeing you another +3 strength bonus over your opponents. With Catherine's ability and the Listening Post mission, getting a +9 strength bonus on other civs isn't too hard.

Nikola Tesla (Great Engineer) - More production is very useful considering how Spies, Garde Impériale units and wonders all compete for your attention.

Information Era

Charles Correa (Great Engineer) - Twice as good as Alvar Aalto, offering appeal in a city to complement Chateau appeal.

France's cultural might isn't unstoppable. Their dependence on particular research paths for full effectiveness can make them pretty predictable, and a predictable opponent is a vulnerable one.


A curious effect of this ability is that it has two halves that slightly contradict each other - the tourism bonus is stronger for earlier wonders, while the production bonus is focused on the mid-game. France doesn't have any particular edge at grabbing early wonders, and the more time they spend trying to build them, the less prepared they are for later wonders.

Even if France is more focused on city development and expansion than wonder construction, it can still leave them moderately vulnerable to an early attack - so long as you can handle the +3 strength bonus Catherine de' Medici usually adds. Nothing can be upgraded into Garde Impériale units, so France may neglect to build a sufficient defensive force in the meantime.


Catherine de Medici knows when you've started production on wonders with just a delegation, a trade route or the Printing technology (among other methods). However, she won't know when you've stopped. You can mislead them by starting production on a wonder you never intend to finish (use a tile you don't need right now) and switching focus to something else.

Because Catherine de' Medici automatically gets +1 diplomatic visibility with you, she'll almost always have a strength bonus against you (which extends to theological combat). It's a good idea to maximise your own diplomatic visibility against her if you're likely to be at war - try to get the Printing technology reasonably early, use a Spy to maintain a listening post in one of her cities, and if possible obtain the modern-era Great Merchant Mary Katherine Goddard for an extra +1 diplomatic visibility bonus. If you're engaged in theological combat rather than regular war, you can get a delegation/embassy in France and send a trade route as well for more diplomatic visibility.

As for the extra Spy, consider heading to the Diplomatic Service civic a bit sooner than normal so you can recruit a Spy of your own as a counter-Spy. With Ideology, you can use the Police State policy card to make life much harder for her Spies, and with Cold War, there's Cryptography as well. Catherine de Medici's Spies aren't any cheaper than yours, and if a lot of hers die, the costs can rapidly spiral out of control for her. The more time she spends building Spies, the less time she spends on military units and wonders.


Catherine loves making use of Spies and gaining diplomatic visibility, and hopes you do too. She dislikes those who are insufficient at that.

Early on, avoiding being disliked by Catherine de Medici can be a simple task of remembering to send delegations to other civs. It doesn't cost a lot to do that, and raising relations with other AI civs isn't such a bad idea anyway.

Once Spies arrive, be sure to get some for yourself - if only to counter-Spy against her. If you get a positive agenda-based relations boost, that's probably a sign you have sufficient defence against her Spies.


If you don't share a continent with Catherine de Medici, then promoted Musketmen or even Knights can perform reasonably well. Garde Impériale units are pretty costly (42% more expensive than Musketmen!) so even at a strength disadvantage, the production difference should make up for that.

Assuming you do share a continent with Catherine de Medici, and you don't want to (or can't) pull off an early rush against her before she can unleash Napoleon's armies upon you, try to make use of defensive terrain and ranged units behind your promoted Musketmen or other such units. Cavalry corps will be particularly useful if you have access to them.

Look for where France's siege units are. Without siege support, Garde Impériale units will have difficulty tearing down city walls, so try to pick them off if you can.

Once you have Infantry, Garde Impériale forces should be reasonably manageable, and once you're up to Tanks, they shouldn't pose a significant threat any more.


Chateaux have horribly specific terrain requirements for their optimum yields. France needs plenty of space around rivers to be able to make the most of them, and that's not always possible. Simply put, the more river tiles you take, the fewer river tiles France has and the weaker Chateaux become as a consequence.

Like all unique improvements, Chateaux are vulnerable to pillaging - you'll get 25 culture each time. Promoted Cavalry and Helicopters can quickly tear them down, putting a slight dent in France's tourism output as well. If you're taking over French cities, pillage Chateaux as you go seeing as (like all unique improvements) you won't keep them when you capture the cities.

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