Bonjour bonjour! Welcome back to France IA Redux, the game that has fewer Frances than before, but still has more than you would expect except for the fact that its the point of the game.



17 votes this time, after a two week break because real life gets in the way of running AI games. Stupid real life. Anyway, it isn't very surprising that West Germany has the most with 9, or just over half of the vote. With a full 1/3 of that, the Gauls have 3, followed by Louis XI with 2, and Monaco, Gallia, and Catherine de Medici have 1.



We start this part off with the Gauls declaring war on Georges Clemenceau's France. Clemenceau's army in the area is larger, but the Gauls' is more advanced and is more likely to be reinforced due to the larger production base. Troyes is in the yellow from the attack that Louis XI is conducting. Louis XI declared war late last part, but is already making progress.

To the southeast, the Franks and HRE go to peace, as do de Champlain and Flanders. To celebrate, de Champlain builds Kronborg, a wonder perfectly suited to a naval-focused civ: +1 culture and great merchant point, +25% city health for coastal cities, and an additional 50% production towards naval units in the city in which its built.

To the south, Monaco and the Papal States go to peace, and I think the Papal States were actually making progress considering the damage La Condamine is at.

Unfortunately for Gallia, they suddenly find themselves at war with the Papal States and Rome. The Gauls show that they stand firm with Gallia by calling them Comrade, and becoming communist(order). I'm a bit confused as to where Rome keeps their army, their lands are flooded with Visigothic units, but I'm sure its around somewhere.

Francois has decided to rid the world of Anne of Brittany. Probably a good thing, as there isn't much left of her. Monaco joins the fun too.

The Gauls capture Nancy from Clemenceau, and decide to burn it to the ground. The Swiss attack the Franks, somehow from three directions, as they have forces to the north and west, and are based in the south.

As we see the last of Nancy, Troyes falls to the Gauls leaving Clemenceau on 2 cities.. Regensburg takes its first damage.

Troyes is taken to the yellow, as the HRE declares war on the Swiss. Considering how undefended Geneva and Zurich are, I'd hope to see some quick progress, but nothing will likely come of it, as usual. Clemenceau also recaptures Troyes.

This recapture of Troyes allows Louis XI to capture the city, giving them a weird arm to the north. Unfortunately for the Franks, Louis XI, de Champlain, William of Normandy, and the Visigoths declare war on him. Louis XI is the only one he has to worry about, but considering their recent expansion, I'd be very worried.



Also, Navarre declares war on Franco's Spain. We'll take a look at the region if anything interesting happens.

The Gallians have managed to capture Neapolis, however Arras is heavily damaged so it could fall as soon as someone brings a melee unit. Also, a Franc goes autocratic.



As if having the Gauls invade him wasn't enough, Clemenceau declares war on the Franks, as to de Gaulle and de Medici. Pretty sure that means that all leaders with a de in their name are fighting the Franks: de Champlain, de Gaulle, and de Medici.

There it goes, Arras is captured by the Papal States. I'd be surprised if they made more progress than that however. The Gauls are near Antium, so they're fully on the offense against Rome.



De Gaulle declares war on Andorra, but its a meaningless war.

There we go, Francois eliminates Anne of Brittany. Took him 7 turns to do it, and it wasn't very exciting.



Anne of Brittany (Rank: 28/40) didn't settle much and went tall. She was a regional player until everyone else had more cities and was in a disastrous war with Francois and de Champlain. After that, she was a rump state until now. Overall, a middling performance. Probably should have used JFD's Brittany as everyone said, but I suppose that'll be next time.

The Gauls have managed to capture Paris, and are now burning it. It may flip back, but I'm not convinced. Chavonne is practically undefended, Clemenceau is in a bad place currently. The Papal States join in against the Franks as well.

Flanders captures Buckingham from the Anglo-Saxons, which is pretty embarrassing for them. Clemenceau somehow makes peace with the Gauls, allowing him to live until someone puts him out of his misery.

Navarre and Rome declare war on Andorra, but both are preoccupied with other wars. Seville is under attack from Spain, and looks undefended, what is Sancho doing?

So that's who did it! The Franks regain their original capital of Troyes from Louis XI, good for them. The Swiss manage to amass an army near Zurich and Geneva and look like they'll be able to repulse the HRE's advance, even if Geneva is in the yellow.



Offscreen, the Franks will lose their capital again, and Richelieu will go to peace with Flanders, while the Hainaut declare on Switzerland.

In a dramatic turn of events, Asturias, the Visigoths, Rome, and Monaco declare war on Franco's Spain. Franco's forces are making a decent push into Navarre, but suddenly being in a two front war will markedly reduce their ability to continue the advance.



Also, Napoleon and Andorra go to peace. Offscreen, Navarre and Franco go to peace, so ignore that two-front war thing. Also, Francois advances to the modern era, should be fun hopefully.

Maybe he beelined it, maybe I didn't pay attention to who's in what era, anyway, de Champlain leads the tech race, with the Gauls not far behind.

Trailing, somehow Asturias has no science... What the heck, they have 4 decently sized cities, how are they doing that badly?

We see Francois empire as he builds the Smithsonian Institute, granting him a free academy in the city, +1 culture, +3 science, +2 great scientist points, and every time he expends a great scientist he gains 150 science. A useful wonder to take the top spot in the science race.

Uh oh, the Gauls go from beating up Clemenceau's France to beating up Napoleon's France. Well, I don't see Napoleon surviving for long.

Another France becomes autocratic as Clemenceau and Louis XI go to peace. Normandy and Francois do as well.

Battle of the yellow civs: West Germany declares war on the Hainaut. West Germany has GWI, cavalry, and Gatling guns, while the Hainaut have riflemen and field guns. I think I know who'll come out on top in this conflict.

The Swiss become autocratic and have pushed the HRE back across the front.

The Hainaut, perhaps wisely, choose communism.It should be easier to defend with order, and they'll need every advantage they can get. We see here the remains of Normandy, trapped in a bygone era.



You can also see that the Anglo-Saxons have recaptured Buckingham, and that Francois has declared war on Franco.

And there goes Franco's capital, Santander. Asturias is putting in a lot of work, and appears to be eliminating Franco's army effectively. Most of the troops north of Madrid are explorers (I think, they may be surveyors. Either way, they're scout upgrades).

The Franks lose Regensburg to Louis XI. I thought that the Swiss would capture it, but I guess not. De Medici has a large force in the area for some reason. They're probably at war with someone and I just forgot. Notice how unpopulated the HRE/West German/Frankish border confluence is.

New France goes Autocratic. This is a good chance to see what they've got: an army way in the east, and a good navy. De Gaulle could invade and make a few gains if he was quick, but I don't think that'll happen.

Nimes falls to the Gauls, as Chartres becomes Napoleon's final bastion. The Gauls are bringing in many guns, so I don't expect Napoleon to last long.



As if they needed more money, Monaco builds Big Ben.

Antium falls to Gallia! You could see it in the red last slide. I'm proud of Gallia, they weren't impressive at all before this war and here they are taking Rome apart from the inside. They may want to make peace quickly though, Rome as assembled its legions of line infantry in the south and they look set to advance northwards. Even the Papal States are gathering around Borbetomagus, which still hasn't been annexed, to push to Neapolis.



Napoleon is safe for now, the Gauls go to peace with him. It looks like the Gauls don't mind dismantling an empire but don't want the diplomatic penalties of finishing someone off. West Germany builds the Eiffel Tower, annoyingly.

We see here that being at war with the Hainaut hasn't stopped the West Germans from contributing over 1000 production more than their nearest competitor towards the World's Fair.



Offscreen, Monaco goes Autocratic, as do the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks. De Champlain will also build the Brandenburg Gate, so I guess its fair that a German civ builds a French wonder while a French civ builds a German one.

They've done it! They've finally done it, the HRE has finally captured Zurich from the Swiss! They city will stay HREan(?) for a while as the Swiss don't have any nits to recapture the city within the next turn or two.

To the north, the Hainaut town of Binche falls to the West Germans. Thankfully, this sates the West German desire for war, with the addition of Ath in the deal. With the end of this war, the Hainaut is effectively done. Their two cities are split, so they'll be a tasty snack for any of their neighbours.



Speaking of peace, the Papal States and Gallia also make peace.

Seeing the rising power of Louis XI, the Gauls declclare war on them. This could define the power balance of the region, so we'll have to keep an eye on the region. The Gauls' army is more grouped, but the dispersion of Louis' army means he can attack wherever he wants.

We can see the totality of the Hainaut, recently expanded by taking out the Normans. Having dispatched the Normans finally, the Hainaut enlist the help of Richelieu of all people to attack Clemenceau. If you think about it, its a good idea as taking out Clemenceau will reunite the Hainaut's domain.



William of Normandy (Rank: 27/40) settled a long empire and was warlike against his neighbours. Had he settled cities between his actual cities, he would have had the production to actually take out his rivals instead of losing time and production against them. Not a great showing, but he lasted longer than many others.

Finding himself at war with the Gauls, Louis XI goes to peace with the Franks. Troyes and Regensburg are isolated from the majority of Louis XI's empire, but at least de Medici and de Champlain's forces will make it difficult for the Gauls to attack. Also, another France adopts communism/order while the HRE and Swiss go to peace, allowing the HRE to keep Zurich.

At least the north is secure, troops from Gaul attack Peronne and move on Dijon, and the French army is few and far between. The West Germans build Broadway to host a musical to celebrate their victory over the Hainaut.

Return to Spain, as Franco is slowly but surely reduced to Madrid. Santander remains in the red and Asturias captures Pravia, a city they lost to Franco quite a few wars ago. This looks like Franco's final stand, as his entire southern and western approaches are empty of Spanish troops.

The Papal States, seeing a weakened Rome, attack them. They actually have a decent army, and a lot of their UU. Andorra and Navarre go to peace as well, and nothing happened from the war, as expected.

Buoyed by their win against Switzerland, the HRE declare war on the Franks. I could see them take Aachen, but not much more than that. Troyes is in the yellow, as de Medici's army advances and de Champlain's army holds their position allowing the Gauls to siege the city.

Oh, and there it goes. Troyes falls to the Gauls. Maybe taking Regensburg will be harder? No idea. To the far north, Hainaut forces advance on Chavonne, and de Champlain builds the Prora.

You can see the effects, as he leads the happiest civ in the hexagon (the nickname for continental France in France).

Not many unhappy civs in the game, so that means little razing of cities hopefully.

Or not. Regensburg falls to the Gauls, who raze the city. Dijon is under attack by a strong army, but there are forces ready to retake the city.

In Spain, Spain is eliminated by Asturias. If Franco hurries up and moves his forces intelligently, he could retake Madrid, but it would fall the turn after so its not really worth it.



Francisco Franco of Spain (Rank: 26/40) is a bit of weird civ to write a eulogy for. He warred early with Asturias and took a bad city on the map edge from them and then settled Barcelona within the Asturian empire, but lost it to Asturias in their next conflict. A costly war against Navarre bled their army white enabling Asturias to scoop up the entirety of Franco's holdings. A good early game led to a bad mid-late game for him.

Flanders and the Anglo-Saxons go to peace. The war was a win for Flanders, capturing an A-S city and flipping Buckingham, but they have nothing to show for it. Rome and the Papal States go to peace as well.

Welp, there goes Dijon. Things are looking bad for the former up-and-coming Louis XI, as he's lost all of his northern holdings. I'd try to put a positive light on what's going on for Louis, but I'm afraid that the Gauls would see that as the next target to attack.

You can see here that the Rome-Papal State war didn't lead to anything, except that somehow a Roman rifleman made it to the middle of the Papal army. Weird.



Offscreen, the Visigoths go autocratic while Charles de Gaulle attacks Clemenceau.

The Hainaut, currently attacking Clemenceau, expand the war to attack the Franks. Maybe they should focus on eliminating Clemenceau first instead of attacking someone else...



Offscreen, Rome and Flanders go autocratic, while Andorra adopts communism.

The Gauls give Louis XI an ally by attacking the Papal States. Surely the enemy of my enemy is my friend, even in civ games right?

The HRE captures Aachen from the Franks, however most of the Frankish army is ready to take the city back.

A large coalition against the Papal States brews, as Monaco, Andorra, Cornwall, and Flanders declare against them. Only Monaco matters, but Andorra may be able to serve as a distraction for a bit.

This time the war is on Navarre, as the Hainaut and Visigoths team up. The Visigoths should be able to attack the Navarre's French cities north of the Pyrenees, but Pondichery should fall to Navarre should everything go according to plan. Navarre has some of their UU, the Txapelgorri. It replaces the Rifleman, ignores rough terrain movement costs, and has a +25% Combat Bonus in Hills.



The HRE adopts communism.

Oh my, quite the interesting slide. Flanders, Cornwall, and the Anglo-Saxons declare war on the Hainaut, after the Hainaut eliminate Georges Clemenceau's France. Flemish forces are advancing on Mons, while Rouen is already in the yellow.



Georges Clemenceau of France (Rank: 25/40) warred with the Hainaut, managing to capture Valenciennes so hard it spontaneously combusted, and captured Troyes from the Franks. After that, it was all downhill, as the Gauls, with a little help from Louis XI, dismantled his empire. The Hainaut were able to sweep in and finish the job. We've seen worse performances. Better ones too.

Vezelay falls to the Gauls, Louis XI should get his shit in gear and put up some resistance to the gauls' advance if he wants to survive.

Rome and Gallia make peace, with Gallia losing all the gains they made during the war. What a useless war, Gallia should have at least tried to keep Neapolis, but I guess that the Romans wouldn't let them. Another France goes autocratic.

Rouen falls to the Flemish, and I don't see the Hainaut recapturing it. Lyon is open to attack, so it should fall to the Flemish pretty quickly.

Oh, that's why Rome and Gallia went to peace. So that Rome could attack Napoleon with Catherine de Medici. Well, RIP Napoleon, at least he's going out swinging, driving a force to attack Antium. Unless someone gives de Medici open borders, she won't be able to get forces close enough to attack Napoleon, so at least he's only got 4 tiles to defend.

Pondichery falls to Navarre, but they decide to burn the city instead of keeping it to expand their empire.

The Visigoths, upset that they lost Pindichery, take Bordeaux as recompense.. It looks like it could stay Visigothic for now.

Wait, that's it? The Visigoths captured a former capital, while Navarre foolishly burned their capture to the ground. What a letdown.

The Franks and Hainaut go to peace, while the Hainaut build up a reputation as warmongers by declaring on Andorra. Don't the Hainaut have a more pressing threat to the north in the form of Flanders to deal with?

It looks like Aachen was burnt while we weren't looking, how unfortunate. West Germany becomes the first power to develop the power to build the Bomb. This wreckage is what propel the Franks and HRE to go to peace offscreen.

Francois leads the tech race by an impressive 4 techs, but doesn't seem to be using his tech advantage to take over his less intelligent neighbours.

I'm still surprised Asturias is this low in the science rankings. Navarre as well, to be honest.

There goes Mons, captured by the Flemish. This capture reduces the Hainaut to 2 cities, neither of which were theirs to begin with, and limits West Germany's access to the Hainaut to continue previous wars against them. It does increase their border with Flanders though.

Francois completes the Manhattan project as well, and the Hainaut recapture Mons from the Flemish. It'd be nice is Francois took out Richelieu, who is somehow still around.

Hey, a real life conflict in a civ game, how original! The Visigoths declare war on Rome while they're distracted with Napoleon. The Visigoths should be able to make major gains, as they have a tech advantage and open roads to both Aurillac and Narbo.

The Channel will now host one of the biggest naval wars in the game, as de Champlain declares war on the Anglo-Saxons in an effort to remove them from the continent. The New French have artillery, something which will greatly help their attacks in the future.



Flanders and the Hainaut go to peace. Shame that, as Flanders could have made more gains.

Just like that, 2 turns later the've captured Maldon. The paratrooper by Stafford and aircraft carrier by Sorel-Tracy should be indicative of things to come, as the New French move on to clear the western Channel of Anglo-Saxon naval units.

Recognising the danger posed by the Visigoths, Rome makes peace with Napoleon.This war reduced Napoleon's army, but there wasn't much of it to begin with.





Thanks for reading, it is greatly appreciated! Here's the usual poll: We'll end this part with Louis XI gathering an army to recapture Vezelay from the Gauls, and the HRE declaring war on Switzerland again.Thanks for reading, it is greatly appreciated! Here's the usual poll: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetIUbrOGfuLPrR8r83Ah9mjYSrNvSkHpa2xqZEOIcoyCM-SQ/viewform

Stats time! New France leads the population race with a 26million person advantage on the Gauls. The population stats drop off quickly after that.

The 12th and 13th places are now in both the highest and lowest placing rankings, at least for population. Gallia and France trail, while the Hainaut and Richelieu aren't doing much better.

The Gauls and West Germans dominate the production stats, dang!

Not much to say here...

Unsurprisingly considering their advanced units, New France leads the military might charts.

Only so much to say about the rump states that hasn't been said before.

Tech, somehow still dominated by Francois even though he does nothing.