France EU5 Guide - Europe's Dominant Military Power

Command the strongest military in Western Europe and overcome France's unique tax crisis. This comprehensive guide covers noble levy dominance, centralization mastery, estate privilege manipulation, and the path to European supremacy.

Strongest Military

6M Starting Pops

Tax Efficiency Master

Noble Levy Swarm

Why France?

France is the dominant military power in Western Europe with the best tax potential in the game

France starts with 6 million population—the most in Western Europe—plus powerful subjects with additional millions. You control the best farmland density in Europe with nearly entirely flatlands terrain, making control projection incredibly easy. While you start with a crippling -25% tax efficiency malus, overcoming this unlocks the strongest tax modifiers in the entire game.

Unstoppable Noble Levies

+100% noble levy size from tech, massive cavalry armies with +20% morale—no professional army needed until late game

Best Tax Game in EU5

+40% peasant max tax, +20% burgers max tax, +15% tax efficiency total—once you overcome the starting malus

Perfect Geography

Best farmland density in Europe, flatlands terrain for easy control, rivers with bridge opportunities for proximity reduction

Multiple Expansion Paths

England (Hundred Years War), Low Countries (Netherlands control), Provence, Burgundy, HRE influence, and colonization

Starting Situation & The Tax Crisis (1337)

CRITICAL CHALLENGE: France starts with "Ancient French Taxation" debuff: -25% tax efficiency and -20% max tax. For every ducat you collect, you lose a quarter of it. Your entire opening strategy revolves around overcoming this.

The Tax Efficiency Problem

Understanding what's crippling your economy

Ancient French Taxation modifier gives:

-25% tax efficiency (you lose 25% of all tax collected)
-20% max tax (reduces how much you can tax)
Extremely high building upkeep costs
Combines with low starting crown power for even worse penalties

The Solution: Push centralization → Increase crown power → Overcome tax malus through reforms and government changes. This is a 20-30 year process.

Critical First Month Actions

Setting up the centralization push

Fort Management (Save ~10 ducats/month)

Delete approximately 2/3 of your starting forts, but keep a defensive line toward England since they will attack repeatedly during the Hundred Years War.

Keep forts in:

Paris (capital protection)
Northern coastal provinces where England might land
Strategic choke points

You should still pay ~5 ducats/month on fort maintenance after cleanup (down from ~15)

Cabinet Actions (Stability + Centralization)

Initial assignments:

Slot 1: Changing Societal Values (moving toward centralization) + Strengthening the Government (increasing stability)
Slot 2: Increasing Stability

Critical: You get +0.02 centralization trend from this setup, which slowly pushes you toward the value you desperately need.

Budget Sliders

Diplomatic Spending: You have many subjects (appanages), so you'll need to adjust this upward after the first month to maintain diplo capacity

Cost of Court: Max this out to rush stability

Taxation: Use auto-adjust (manual micro possible but tedious)

Army Maintenance: Can stay lower initially since you're using levies

Army Setup & Crown Power

CRITICAL: Assign your king as general of the regular army (not the footman unit). This gives +12-25% crown power depending on army size relative to total forces. With your low starting crown power (~15-20%), every point matters!

Estate Privileges & The Noble Problem

Nobles start at 74% estate power—this is enormous! The main driver is the privilege giving you an extra cabinet action (+200% noble power). Removing noble privileges is extremely expensive due to their high power.

Opening privilege strategy:

Revoke "Communal Lands" from peasants (removes decentralization push)
Grant "Free Mobility for Common People" to peasants (you don't need surfdom max tax due to France's unique bonuses)
Grant "Common Militias" to peasants (raise satisfaction)
Don't touch noble privileges early—removing them costs prohibitive stability

Government Reform

Wait until 42 stability before enacting your first reform to avoid the 20 stability cost. The starting reforms aren't critical, so save the stability for more important uses. Later you'll want reforms that push centralization and crown power.

Culture Acceptance & Coring

France starts with extra cultural capacity and uncored areas. Accept cheap same-culture-group cultures (0.15 cost each) to enable coring in those provinces. Poitou and similar French cultures are essentially free to accept.

Unintegrated provinces: Give them to your Touraine appanage or other subjects so they can integrate them for you, saving cabinet member time.

Research Path

Priority research:

Diplomatic Capacity (you have many subjects and will go over cap without this)
Monthly Diplomats (allows moves without paying for diplo spending slider)
Then transition to Renaissance advances when available

Core Economic Systems

From Crisis to Dominance

France's economy transforms from weak to unstoppable

France's economic game has two distinct phases: surviving the tax crisis (1337-1360s) and leveraging superior modifiers to dominate (1360s onward). Your building and development priorities shift dramatically based on which phase you're in.

Phase 1: Survival (1337-1360s)

Minimize building costs due to high upkeep
Focus on infrastructure (roads, marketplaces)
Build hospitals before Black Death (1340s-1350s)
Push centralization relentlessly
Accept slow economic growth

Phase 2: Dominance (1360s+)

Crown power 50%+, tax modifiers operational
Aggressive RGO expansion (farms on farmland)
Paris market development
Premium resource exploitation (silk, dyes, iron)
Economic output surpasses all neighbors

Building Priority Sequence

Marketplaces (Highest Priority)
100% profit buildings. Build everywhere, focusing capital (Paris) first. Increase trade capacity for more trade routes.
Hospitals (Before Black Death)
Critical in the 1340s. The Black Death will kill ~40% of your 6M pops. Build in high-population urban areas first to minimize losses.
Roads (Every Province)
-20% proximity cost each, +control everywhere. Build systematically from capital outward. Your flatlands terrain makes roads incredibly effective.
Bridges (Over Rivers)
-5% proximity cost per bridge. France has many rivers running through—build bridges for additional control projection.
Lumber Mills First (RGO Strategy)
Lumber is a construction input—flooding the market with lumber makes all other buildings cheaper. This creates a "lumber price collapse" that accelerates development.
Farm RGOs (On Farmland)
France has the best farmland density in Europe. After lumber, build grain and fruit farms on your abundant farmland for food surplus income.
Premium Resource Bailiffs (Silk, Dyes, Iron)
Build bailiff buildings on silk, dye, and iron provinces for +control AND +production bonuses.
Paris Capital Buildings (Unique Bonuses)
France gets unique buildings in the capital that provide countrywide bonuses. Build these as you can afford them.
Canals (After Upgrading to City)
Portage canals give another -5% proximity cost. Available after upgrading settlements to cities.

Values, Parliament & Laws

Centralization Is Everything

Your number one priority for the first 30 years

Critical: Centralization value provides +50% crown power at 100 centralization AND -10% proximity cost. This is the key to overcoming the Ancient French Taxation malus.

Why Centralization?

France starts with a decentralization push due to estate privileges (+0.20 from Communal Lands). You desperately need to reverse this. Every point of centralization helps with crown power, which multiplies your tax income and mitigates the -25% tax efficiency malus.

How to Push Centralization:

Cabinet Members: "Changing Societal Values" action moves toward centralization (+0.02 trend with proper assignment)
Revoke Decentralization Privileges: Remove "Communal Lands" from peasants (costs 33 stability but removes 0.20 decentralization push)
Parliament Debates: "Establish Great Works of Faith" and similar provide centralization trend
Government Reforms: Several reforms grant centralization push
Control Increases: Higher control in provinces slightly increases centralization cap
Specific Buildings: Some provide centralization modifiers

Centralization Timeline:

1337-1345: Reach 20-30 centralization (small crown power gains)

1345-1360: Reach 50 centralization (meaningful crown power increase)

1360-1380: Reach 70+ centralization (major improvements)

1380+: Approach 100 centralization (maximum bonuses)

Aristocracy Commitment Strategy

Synergizing with noble levy bonuses

France heavily incentivizes aristocracy (left-side) values due to noble levy bonuses and aristocracy's military + economic synergies.

Aristocracy Military Benefits:

+100% noble levy size from tech
Aristocracy value unlocks "Mailed Knights" cavalry units
+20% army morale from advances
+Cavalry power in Age 3
Levy discipline bonuses

Aristocracy Economic Benefits:

Noble consumption stimulates luxury goods markets
Easier to grant privileges that boost economy
Parliament support from aristocracy-aligned estates
Stability from satisfied noble estate
Access to "Making a Man a Knight" interaction (+5 aristocracy trend)

Important: Don't try to push plutocracy (right-side values). It fights against your levy bonuses and noble estate structure. Embrace aristocracy for France's playstyle.

Parliament Manipulation & Priority Laws

Parliament Cost Advantage:

Direct law changes cost 72-100 stability. Parliament law changes cost only 50% support points. ALWAYS use parliament for law changes to save massive amounts of stability.

Debate Pass/Fail Threshold:

Parliament debates use a binary 50% threshold. 51% support = pass, 49% support = fail. The exact percentage above or below 50% doesn't matter. This creates strategic manipulation opportunities.

Priority Parliament Debates (Early Game):

1. "Expand Gravel Road Network" or Similar (Centralization Push)

Provides +10 centralization trend and reduces road building costs. Critical first debate.

2. "Land Focus" Agendas (Repeated)

France can "fish" for Land Focus agendas by reducing potential debate options (see Advanced Techniques). Provides modifiers beneficial for land-based economy.

3. "Establish Great Works of Faith"

Additional centralization trend, helps with the centralization push.

Priority Law Changes Via Parliament:

1. Land Value Trend Laws

Increases land-based economy benefits, synergizes with France's farmland focus

2. Additional Taxes Laws

Once crown power improves, unlocking additional tax sources multiplies your superior tax modifiers

3. Centralization-Granting Laws

Any law that provides centralization trend or push should be prioritized

Military Strategy - Noble Levy Dominance

Why France Doesn't Need Professional Armies

Until the Renaissance, levies are superior

France's Military Secret: +100% noble levy size from tech + aristocracy value bonuses + +20% army morale = massive cavalry armies that crush opponents without needing expensive professional forces.

Noble Levy Advantages:

Completely free (no monthly maintenance)
+100% size from tech means double the cavalry
Aristocracy value unlocks Mailed Knights (superior unit)
+20% morale from advances prevents routing
Cavalry power bonus in Age 3
Scales with population and estates
Sufficient for all early wars (England, Low Countries, Provence)

When to Transition:

Renaissance "Organized Military" advance unlocks professional armies
Typically around 1370s-1390s depending on institution spread
Professional armies can refill fort garrisons (levies cannot)
Better supply management with camp followers
Don't make the switch until economy fully recovers
Even then, keep using noble levies as the core of your forces

Critical Levy Limitations:

Cannot refill fort garrisons (makes capturing forts impossible without regulars)
Die rapidly to attrition without supply lines
Shrink after each use and with population losses
Cannot operate inland in enemy territory without supply agreements

Cavalry Composition & Combat

Army Composition:

France's noble levies are primarily heavy cavalry (Mailed Knights when aristocracy threshold is met). You'll have thousands of cavalry from the noble estate, supplemented by peasant infantry levies.

Typical Early Army (1340s):

~40,000 noble cavalry levies (Mailed Knights)
~20,000 peasant infantry levies
Small professional force (250-500 for garrison refilling)

Combat Effectiveness:

French cavalry with +20% morale bonus will not route easily. Combined with cavalry power bonus and superior numbers, you can defeat England's professional forces in the Hundred Years War despite England's unique units. The key is leveraging your numerical advantage.

Combat Lessons:

Never assault forts: Casualties are catastrophic (1,800 attackers to kill 96 defenders in testing)
Never siege inland without supply agreements: Attrition will woodchipper your levies (lost 20K to attrition in example)
Use levies for battles, regulars for sieges: Regulars can refill garrison, levies cannot
Avoid fighting during Black Death: Population losses reduce levy size dramatically

Fort Strategy & Defensive Lines

Unlike Castile (which can delete most forts safely), France needs a defensive line toward England due to the Hundred Years War.

Keep forts in:

Paris (capital, must protect)
Normandy coastal provinces (English landing zones)
Brittany region (potential English ingress)
Key choke points toward the English-controlled Aquitaine

You'll still delete ~2/3 of starting forts, bringing fort maintenance from ~15 ducats/month to ~5 ducats/month.

England WILL attack you multiple times (Hundred Years War). Having zero forts or completely deleted defenses makes sieges too easy for them. Keep a minimal defensive line.

War & Diplomacy Strategy

Key Wars & Expansion Paths

The Hundred Years War, Low Countries, and beyond

The Hundred Years War (Defensive)

England will attack you repeatedly throughout the 1340s-1400s. Your strategy is defensive: protect Paris, hold the line with forts, and use your superior cavalry numbers to win field battles. Don't try to invade England early—focus on repelling their invasions and taking war reparations.

First war typically 1337-1342: Defend and white peace or small gains
Second war 1350s: More aggressive, can start taking English continental holdings
Later wars 1380s+: Go on the offensive, invade England with navy

Low Countries Conquest (Priority Expansion)

Subjugate the Netherlands region for control of rich trade provinces and excellent development potential. Target order: Brabant → Flanders → Holland → Hainaut. These lands are some of the best in Europe.

Use fabricated claims or diplomatic opportunities
Consider vassalization over direct annexation for AE management
Bruges and Antwerp are premium trade centers

Other Expansion Targets:

Provence: Fabricate claims, wealthy Mediterranean territory
Burgundy: Rival, excellent lands if you can manage the wars
Navarra: Alliance for claims on Castile (though risky)
HRE Influence: Expand into western HRE when opportunities arise

Advanced Techniques

The "Ordinance" Privilege Event Exploitation

Advanced estate satisfaction manipulation

Meta Strategy: This is an advanced technique that exploits estate satisfaction mechanics to grant multiple beneficial privileges at reduced cost.

The Mechanic:

The cost to grant privileges is based on estate satisfaction. The more privileges an estate already has, the relatively cheaper each additional privilege becomes. There is a random event called "Ordinance" that can fire for the noble estate when their satisfaction drops very low (<30%).

The Strategy:

Intentionally crash noble satisfaction to below 30% by revoking a cheap peasant privilege or other action that angers nobles
Wait for "Ordinance" event to fire (RNG-based, may take months)
When event fires, you get an option to grant multiple privileges to nobles to appease them
Grant all beneficial long-term privileges (Noble Levy Size +50%, building cost reduction, etc.) while the relative cost is lower due to low satisfaction
Accept the stability hit from the event (usually 10-20 stability)
Nobles are now satisfied with many powerful privileges that would have been expensive to grant individually

Why This Works:

Normally, granting multiple noble privileges would cost enormous amounts of satisfaction and risk rebellion. The Ordinance event allows you to bypass normal satisfaction costs and grant privileges as part of the event resolution. You trade stability (renewable resource) for permanent campaign-long privilege bonuses.

Best Timing: Mid-game (1360s-1370s) when you have stability to spare and want to stack military bonuses for major wars.

Parliament Agenda Fishing

Manipulating parliament debates for desired outcomes

The Concept:

Parliament has a pool of potential debate agendas. By reducing the pool of available options, you can increase the probability of getting specific beneficial debates (like "Land Focus" which France wants repeatedly).

How Agenda Selection Works:

Each parliamentary session randomly selects debates from all available agendas. Some agendas are locked behind conditions (research advances, building types, trade routes, etc.). If those conditions aren't met, those agendas won't appear.

The Fishing Strategy:

Identify the agenda you want (e.g., "Land Focus" for France)
Avoid meeting conditions for agendas you don't want (don't build certain building types, don't establish certain trade routes)
Reduce the agenda pool to only essential options plus your target
Call parliament repeatedly until your desired agenda appears
Pass the debate and gain the benefits
Repeat the process for the same agenda multiple times if beneficial

France-Specific Application:

France benefits enormously from "Land Focus" agendas due to exceptional farmland. By avoiding maritime/trade-focused building types and keeping the agenda pool small, you can fish for Land Focus multiple parliamentary sessions in a row, stacking the modifiers.

Warning: This is somewhat exploitative and may feel like gaming the system. It's very powerful but reduces gameplay variety. Use at your discretion.

Other Advanced Techniques

Market Capital Relocation (Bruges → Antwerp)

Once you conquer the Low Countries, you can relocate the market capital from Bruges to Antwerp. Antwerp has superior natural harbor access and better trade route potential. This is done through the market interface and costs administrative power.

Timing: After conquering Netherlands region (1360s-1380s)

Bailiff Placement on Premium Resources

Build bailiff buildings specifically on provinces with silk, dyes, and iron. Bailiffs provide both +control AND +production bonuses for those resources. The control bonus helps with proximity cost, while production bonus increases output of premium goods.

Priority order: Silk first (highest value), then dyes (needed for fine cloth), then iron (industrialization).

"Making a Man a Knight" Interaction

There is a court interaction available that grants +5 aristocracy trend. This costs some resources but helps push aristocracy value faster. Use this periodically throughout the campaign to maintain aristocracy momentum.

Best used when aristocracy is stalling around 50-70 and you want to reach higher thresholds

Institution Embrace Timing

Don't rush to embrace Renaissance until your economy has recovered (1370s+). Institution spread happens passively, and embracing early costs enormous amounts of ducats you don't have during the tax crisis phase. Wait until crown power is 50%+ and economy is stable.

Exception: Embrace earlier if you desperately need the "Organized Military" advance for professional armies

Population & The Black Death

CATASTROPHIC EVENT: The Black Death will hit France in the 1340s-1350s (typically starting in Sevilla and spreading north). Without preparation, you will lose ~40% of your 6 million population—approximately 2.4 million people dead.

Hospital Construction Strategy

Protecting your 6M pops before the plague

When to Build:

Start building hospitals in the early 1340s, before the Black Death event fires. The plague typically arrives 1347-1350, so you have a narrow window. Build aggressively starting 1342-1345.

Where to Build (Priority Order):

Paris first (capital, highest pop concentration)
Major urban areas with 200K+ population
High-density provinces in Île-de-France region
Trade centers (Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux)
Coastal entry points where plague spreads from

How Many to Build:

Ideally 10-15 hospitals across your highest population provinces. Each hospital costs ~50-80 ducats (varies by building costs modifiers). Budget 600-1,000 total ducats for hospital program. This is expensive during tax crisis but absolutely worth it.

Hospital Impact: Provinces with hospitals will see ~15-20% population loss instead of ~40%. This preserves millions of pops and maintains levy strength.

The Black Death Event Choices

When the Event Fires:

The plague typically starts in a specific province (often a port or southern region) and spreads across your territory over several months. You'll get event notifications as it spreads.

Event Choice: "Segregate the Infected"

ALWAYS CHOOSE THIS OPTION

Cost: 10 stability
Benefits: +15% disease resistance during outbreak, communalism push

Long-term effect: Affected provinces gain 80%+ disease resistance permanently, making future plague outbreaks far less deadly. The 10 stability cost is absolutely worth this permanent protection.

Alternative Options (Avoid These):

"Pray for Divine Intervention": No stability cost but worse disease resistance, more deaths
"Business as Usual": Shortest-term economic impact but maximum population loss

Post-Plague Recovery Strategy

Critical: After the Black Death, your levies will be dramatically reduced. In testing, France went from 49K levies to 25K due to population loss. Avoid major offensive wars during recovery.

Immediate Response (1350-1360):

DO NOT panic-build to fill population gaps—waste of resources
Max out stability investment with cabinet members (100 stability = double pop promotion speed)
Focus on infrastructure (roads, marketplaces) that doesn't require pops to operate
Defensive wars only until levy strength recovers
Let stability naturally promote pops to refill buildings over time

The Qualification Crisis:

The Black Death disproportionately kills qualified pops (laborers, burgers). Your buildings may become unstaffed even if you have peasant pops available. This reduces economic output temporarily.

Solution: High stability speeds population promotion from peasants → laborers/burgers. This naturally refills your workforce over 5-10 years.

Recovery Timeline:

1350-1355: Population at lowest point, focus on stability and infrastructure

1355-1365: Population slowly recovers, qualified pops refill buildings

1365-1375: Population approaches pre-plague levels, economy normalizes

1375+: Population fully recovered, can resume aggressive expansion

Strategic Advantage: The Black Death hits all nations. With hospitals and good recovery strategy, France recovers faster than rivals, creating military advantage by 1370s.

Campaign Timeline (1337-1450+)

Phase 1: Survival & Setup (1337-1350)

Overcoming the tax crisis and preparing for Black Death

Key Objectives:

Execute opening setup (forts, cabinet, privileges)
Push centralization to 20-30
Build marketplaces in capital region
Start hospital construction by 1342-1345
First Hundred Years War with England (defensive)
Accept cheap French culture group cultures

1345: 10+ hospitals built

1360: 30+ centralization

1370: 50+ centralization, 40%+ crown power

1380: Tax efficiency turns positive

1400: 70+ centralization, 60%+ crown power

Military Milestones:

1342: First English war survived

1360: Brabant conquered

1375: Low Countries fully controlled

1385: Professional army transition complete

1400: England contained or subjugated

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Not Prioritizing Centralization

Staying stuck with the tax malus for decades because you didn't push centralization hard enough early

Deleting All Forts

England will repeatedly invade during Hundred Years War—you need a defensive line

Ignoring Crown Power

Crown power directly multiplies tax income—at 20% crown power you're losing 80% of potential revenue

Trying to Push Plutocracy

Fights against your levy bonuses and noble estate structure—embrace aristocracy instead

Not Building Hospitals Before Black Death

Plague hits in 1340s-1350s and kills ~40% of your 6M pops without hospitals

Trying to Remove Noble Privileges Early

With 74% noble power, revocation costs are prohibitive (50-100+ stability each)

Making Direct Law Changes Instead of Using Parliament

Direct changes cost 72-100 stability vs 50% support points via Parliament

Fighting Offensive Wars During Black Death

Your levies are tied to population—plague deaths reduce your army size during conflicts

Assaulting Forts or Sieging Without Supply

Assault casualties are catastrophic (1,800 killed vs 96 defenders), attrition wipes armies without supply lines

Rushing Professional Armies

Your levy bonuses are too good and your economy can't support professionals until 1370s+

Why This Guide is Accurate

Based on actual 50+ year France campaign playthrough (1337-1390s tested)

Tested strategies, not theory — Every mechanic explained here was verified in-game with real results

Guide written for EU5 version 1.0.8 — Mechanics and strategies are current as of this patch

Experienced player insights — Includes advanced techniques like estate privilege manipulation and parliament fishing

Real examples from playthrough — Specific numbers, events, and outcomes from actual gameplay (tax crisis recovery timeline, Black Death population loss, levy size changes)