Basics – French – Steam Solo

Overview

Hello, this is a quick video guide of what to expect if you are to pick the French as your Civilization.

Video of how to play France.

This will tell you what to expect out of the special units, what to expect out of the playstyle, and what victory conditions to expect to dominate with.

Victory Conditions

Hello, if you really didn’t want to watch the video I’ll give a quick rundown of what you probably should be thinking if you are randomly paired up with the French or are just new to Civilization and think they would be fun to play!

Victory Conditions

Culture
France is a place of MANY artists. France in the real world can do just the same in Civilization V. His +2 culture per city may seem very weak especially considering he loses it after Steam Power is introduced but at that point you’ll have other buildings to help offset what you’ve lost. As any Cultural type of victory you’ll want to build any Wonders that will grant you extra culture. Chances are you’ll want to build a few cities even if going for the Cultural Victory just because of the +2 Culture per city. Remember to choose the Tradition tree if you are pursuing this. Recommended.
Domination
Viva la France! Domination is achieved by the time you have Musketeers and Foreign Legions. Those units tear the battlefield up when you are “Foreign” land. Offensively they are fantastic units. For the time period you’ll be in you will dominate with those units. Depending if you have the edge up technology wise – you could easily take over the “stronger” Civilizations to leave only the weak. At that point you are staring at a Domination Victory. Domination and Cultural victories are on par with each other – the tricky part is choosing in the early game what you want to strive for. Recommended.
Science
As with any Domination orientated victory you have the chance at a Scientific victory as well. Why is that? When you have a lot of cities or just many Capitals you’ll generate quite a bit of science. With that science you’ll be one of the smarter Civilizations in the game. Once you are able to build spaceship parts I highly suggest doing so. Recommended.
Diplomatic
France does not have any personality traits to help you with a Diplomatic Victory. France does not have any special buildings to help Diplomatically. Essentially, it is one of Frances weaker points. In most games you will not want to choose Patronage as a Social Policy as others have better advantages in most games. Not Recommended.

Social Policies

Won’t get into as depth as the Victory Conditions only because Social Policies can usually go anyway for any Civ and still win. Will only note those that are very important to each Civ.

Tradition
Pick this route if you are choosing to go with a Cultural Victory as it helps with a tall empire. It will increase happiness due to the large city(cities) along with grant you more income from defenses. This will also help with building Wonders so you can continue getting more Culture. Choose this Social Policy for a Cultural Victory.
Liberty
Liberty is all about expansion. Frances expansion can be huge because of the early +2 culture per city meaning the borders will expand like a wild fire. The extra culture per city will boost your personality trait to +3 per city until Steam Power. Choose this Social Policy for Domination Victory.

The rest are really up to you on how you’re playstyle will be for policies, Tradition for hunkering down with few cities – Honor for cutting down enemies early on – Liberty for expanding like a mad-man but again, that goes for any Civ, not just the French.

Factoids

Every summer more than 100 cyclists compete in the Tour de France; the course spans roughly 2,000 miles and takes three weeks to complete.
Built from 1666 to 1681, Europe’s oldest functional canal, the Canal du Midi, lies in France.
The French have the highest female and third highest male life expectancy in Europe.
French was the official language of England for over 300 years (from 1066 until the early 14th century.
France produces some of the world’s most famous liqueurs, such as Grand Marnier, Cointreau, and Triple Sec, and upwards of 8 billion bottles of wine a year.