AOE3 Forums

WEll, i agree with you all, Gendarmes are OP late game, can beat pretty much anything.

THe basic double rax xbow spam is effective, but another strat i like is a 10 musket semi-ff/harass. I think this works quite well against ffing civs (in vanilla anyway). You can age to 2 build 10 muskets raid with them killing 2-3 vils, whilst ageing to 3 from which you can make use of  the better french units, cannon/skirms/cuirassiers!

 But don't try it against a rusher, and i don't know how it works in TAD :(
 

ManicJ:

WEll, i agree with you all, Gendarmes are OP late game, can beat pretty much anything.

Have you ever heard of a unit called Dragoons? Available from the stable in age 3, they counter cavalry and also are capable of hit and run attacks on cuirs, which are slower then them and have to melee the dragoons. 

There are also halberdiers for most euro civs to make, and some civs like Germans have units like War Wagons and doppelsoldners that shred cuirs.

Just to let you know  

Wilson_teh_Great:

ManicJ:

WEll, i agree with you all, Gendarmes are OP late game, can beat pretty much anything.

Have you ever heard of a unit called Dragoons? Available from the stable in age 3, they counter cavalry and also are capable of hit and run attacks on cuirs, which are slower then them and have to melee the dragoons. 

There are also halberdiers for most euro civs to make, and some civs like Germans have units like War Wagons and doppelsoldners that shred cuirs.

Just to let you know  

actually, cuirrassiers sometimes beat dragoons (unless they micro) and halberdiers.

Just to let you know  

Иван Грозный:

actually, cuirrassiers sometimes beat dragoons (unless they micro) and halberdiers.

Just to let you know  

=.=

I did mention micro, in the form of "hit and run"

And as for halbs.... yeah I admit they sometimes lose, but they are more or less cost effective vs cuirs all the same 

Wilson_teh_Great:

Иван Грозный:

actually, cuirrassiers sometimes beat dragoons (unless they micro) and halberdiers.

Just to let you know  

I did mention micro, in the form of "hit and run"

i know 

Yes, i do know about dragoons etc etc, but once you have a large number of F.U gendarmes into combat after the first few dragoons shots (won't kill many cuirs cause of high HP) then that splash damage rips apart the dragoons. I've seen it done many times, and done it myself. I would say Ronin or hatamoto samurai are the only units that OWN Imp Gendarmes.

French are so nice because of their balance and flexibility. Strats for them are the classic double rax x-bow spam (which it looks like will get slightly nerfed in the next patch). I personally vary between either a general early game infantry mix of musks + skirms (via team early skirms card) or early game cavalry depending on my opponent. Some people also go FF to get the improved units. The one thing you need to be careful with is water maps. French lack the schooners card so you will likely lose mid-game if you don't rush your opponent.

I use only musketeers because they looks better than skirmishers.

Japengo:

French are beast! they have a fairly good pikeman/longbowman rush but they are extremely good boomers!! Theyre calvary curaisseirs are amazing.

ummmm you mean crossbow right??????