Using the Dutch and Russians as my primary treaty civs, I'm never able to effectively counter a French Gendarme spam. As Dutch, I usually go halb + ruyter (fully upgraded), and as Russian, I usually go cav archer + halb (fully upgraded) combo. Neither of these combinations does the job. Would introducing some artillery do the job, or are these civs themselves just impotent in the face of the French?
Another thing that I find is that, with every high-levelled French treaty player, their almost never close to running out of gold. In my experience with the French in treaty games, I've allocated 40 villagers on coin and 40 on food, had a factory configured to coin production, and made several costy upgrades for villager production on plantations and mills, yet I've run out of coin eventually. Granted, I'm not a high-levelled French player, so I'm likely to be lacking a number of cards for boosting villager production. So, my question is, which cards specifically might I get to be in the same comfortable position as the numerous French players who can spam armies and armies of Gendarmes w/o depleting their coin reserves.
In my most recent game, I setup 10 banks (w/ tulip speculation) and configured 2 factories to coin production, yet my French opponent (w/ 2 factories and 4 plantations), surpassed me in coin production by a big factor. This is what leads me to suspect that there must be some important cards that considerably boost villager production, allowing a French player to research spies in a 2v2, field a constant number of Gendarmes, and still not be even close to lacking gold.
Another thing that I find is that, with every high-levelled French treaty player, their almost never close to running out of gold. In my experience with the French in treaty games, I've allocated 40 villagers on coin and 40 on food, had a factory configured to coin production, and made several costy upgrades for villager production on plantations and mills, yet I've run out of coin eventually. Granted, I'm not a high-levelled French player, so I'm likely to be lacking a number of cards for boosting villager production. So, my question is, which cards specifically might I get to be in the same comfortable position as the numerous French players who can spam armies and armies of Gendarmes w/o depleting their coin reserves.
In my most recent game, I setup 10 banks (w/ tulip speculation) and configured 2 factories to coin production, yet my French opponent (w/ 2 factories and 4 plantations), surpassed me in coin production by a big factor. This is what leads me to suspect that there must be some important cards that considerably boost villager production, allowing a French player to research spies in a 2v2, field a constant number of Gendarmes, and still not be even close to lacking gold.