Talk:Franks/@comment-190.237.143.156-20160428191825/@comment-84.109.68.97-20170206200200

I think the important thing to remember is that different civs have different power peaks. An imperial Frankish army will do badly against any civ at imperial age that counters the knight line - that goes for all civs that have camel and those who have halberdiers with some sort of infantry bonus.

However, Franks have the BEST castle power peak for the following reasons:

1. They get 25% faster berries - that 800 food towards castle age gets closer.

2. They get free mill upgrades, most importantly horse collar, that's 75 food towards castle age or alternatively an extra villager for "free" plus change. In the castle age this becomes 75 + 125 (200) wood due to free plow and free horse collar which makes a second TC far more reachable, and 125 food towards building extra knights. In the imperial age, free crop rotation is nice, but not crucial at this point.

3. Castles cost 488 stone instead of 650. This means you can get a second TC AND a castle for less than the stone price almost any other civ (sans Incas) would have to pay for only a castle. This also means you can get up a castle as soon as you hit castle age without commiting too much to stone and/or sacrificing your second TC time.

4. Knights, obviously. They get 120 HP right off the bat. Bloodlines is unavailable (150 food, 100 gold). Frankish knights also get better line of sight, 6 instead of which is equal to a feudal age scout; those extra two tiles can make the difference between seeing that juicy woodline or not.

Having said all that it makes no sense not to utilize this extremely powerful power peak in your favour and gain this important mid-game advantage.

Let's remember that the really good counters to knights appear only in the castle age onwards (spearmen aren't going to do it, especially against 120 HP Frankish knights). Camels also cost gold and are situational. They're also a stable unit which makes the archery range less viable. Your opponent pretty much has to choose between raiding your economy or countering your knights (by going camels or getting the pikemen upgrade). If they counter, your rush might fail but at least you know they're not going anywhere near your base - if they raid, you're either going to annihilate their raiding units with those knights or outraid them.

Yes, you have a pretty soft belly when it comes to the feudal age with no viable archer line making the archery range very situational and with no bloodlines making a scout rush impotent. However, your opponent can choose between feudal rushing you (which in my opinion is the better option) or containing and outbooming you, then counter you. He/she however can't hope to get a better fast castle result than you, it's simply not going to happen.

Remember that tower rushing then castle dropping also becomes an incredible option if you're willing to take the risk. It's gg if you get your opponent off stone and can amass throwing axemen to counter battering rams. What are those halbs/camels going to do against a castle? Don't forget murder holes though :)