The Scramble for Africa France strategy is more a game-log, than a guide, since little more can be added to previous guides you’ll find linked below. We’re playing colonial France, namely Jules Grévy, president of the French Third Republic from 1879 to 1887. This period saw the establishment of many French colonies during the historic Scramble for Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Strategic rivalries brought European Empires to the brink of (World?) war already at the end of the 19th century, i.e. during the Moroccan Crisis. Arriving late in the circle of colonial empires, of course it was Germany who stirred tensions to both test the waters regarding her own ambitions as well as litmus test the agreements made among other colonial empires such as France and Britain.
The Scramble for Africa France strategy outlines how to extend our empire beyond the historic French colonial empire in Africa and also conquer Egypt and Ethiopia and denying Italy their Libyan foothold.
Scramble for Africa France Strategy – In a nutshell
Here’s the Dos and Don’ts for playing Scramble for Africa as Egypt:
- prevent Italy from capturing an Ottomans city
- prevent Italy from capturing an Egyptian city
- the above should suffice for winning the game, but for bonus points: Contain English and Portuguese settlements in West Africa, meaning: Don’t allow them to build any more cities
Both in Northern Africa and Western Africa we have to move quickly. Four new cities are enough to contain the Portuguese colony as well as the 3 British colonies. Check out the Scramble for Africa Map: Our cities will be based around the city state of Ouagadougou in a way that prevents any other city to be founded and in a way that we can buy tiles between our cities to properly block access for other Europeans.
The result will be a huge front with Morocco to the North and West and with Germany to the South and East. Since Europeans can’t declare war on one another in this scenario, we don’t need to worry about the Germans (for once 😉 )
Unique unit and unique power
The French unique traits are powerful, but not imbalanced compared to other nations unique units, buildings and powers:
- Unique unit: Foreign Legion – A rifleman starting with the Foreign Lands Bonus, a special promotion granting +20% combat bonus fighting outside home territory. Nice, but not as powerful as other nations special unit.
- Unique power: Third Republic – Founded cities start with additional territory!
Obviously this one is incredibly powerful and a huge contributor to the Scramble for Africa France strategy.
The only threat: Italy gaining foothold in Northern Africa
As can be seen in the picture above, the Ottomans in Northern Africa fell until turn 32. Italy got no share of it. Next up is Egypt of course starting with their initial coastal cities. Once Suez is properly French, Italy doesn’t stand a chance, because it’s completely walled in. Wiping out Egypt has lower priority after that. What remains is the usual and the only aspect making the Scramble for Africa scenario a bit one-sided: To achieve the highest score we need to:
Conquer Ethiopia
Slightly different than other Europeans, the France strategy is divided between 2 theaters of war: One in the West against Morocco, the other in the North/East against the Ottomans. Once Morocco falls, all units will make the long track East to the Egyptian battlefield, gain experience, level up and march on Ethiopia.
Conclusion
As stated earlier and in other guides: A Scramble for Africa France strategy will have to be similar to any other European strategy. Based on containment and the conquest of Sub-Sahara and North African nations we’ll climb the top of the scoring board. The little variation make it a bit one-sided sometimes, the only “thrill” being whether containing the European rivals works or won’t work.
Still: France’s score in this game was 5242, being amongst the highest scores I got playing the Scramble for Africa on Deity difficulty.