Revolutionary France

This article is about the revolutionary civilization. For the base civilization, see French (Age of Empires III).

Revolutionary France
Revolutionary nation
Nation information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - update 13.27885
Revolt from	French
Revolt Age	Industrial Age
Continent	Europe
Home City	Paris
Demonym	Revolutionary French Napoleonic French (after Napoleonic Era card)
Features/Characteristics
Unique units	Eclaireur
Unique upgrades	Sansculotte (Coureur des Bois) Foot Carabinier (Royal Musketeer) Horse Carabinier (Royal Dragoon)

Revolutionary France is one of the revolutionary nations in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition since update 13.27885, unique to the French and available in the Industrial Age.

Revolting to Revolutionary France costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood, 1,000 coin.

Effects

• Upgrades Coureurs des Bois to Sansculottes.
• Native Scouts are fully replaced by Eclaireurs at Town Centers, Native Embassies, and on the map.
• The "Edict of Nantes" Home City Card is sent, enabling players to research the Code Napoleon, Young Guard, Middle Guard, and Old Guard technologies at the Church.
• Enables the construction of Field Hospitals and the "Master Surgeons" Home City Card is sent, enabling Surgeons to be trained at the Church and improving their healing ability.
• Revolutionaries are enabled and can be trained at Town Centers.
• The in-game demonym changes to "Revolutionary French".
• Can send the "Napoleonic Era" Home City Card to progress to the Napoleonic Era, with an expanded Home City deck.

Napoleonic Era effects

• Advances the player into the Imperial Age, with limitations on the available technologies; the Capitol is disabled.
• Refunds the resource cost of the "Napoleonic Era" Home City Card, depositing 1,789 food and 1,815 coin into the player's stockpiles.
• The Home City deck retains the original cards from the French Revolution, and 17 new cards are added to it.
• Napoleon Guns are enabled and can be trained at Taverns.
• The "Ancien Régime" Home City Card is sent, which allies the player to the House of Bourbon, ships a Royal Embassy Wagon, enables the player to research Bourbon Reforms and Royal Tax in the Royal Embassy, and enables the player to train upgraded versions of Bourbon units (Foot Carabiniers and Horse Carabiniers) in the Royal Embassy; Bourbon units now cost population slots* when acquired from the Royal Embassy or the Home City.
  • Royal Musketeers are upgraded into Foot Carabiniers, and gain 40% more hitpoints and attack, +2 Line of Sight, and can use the Grenade Launcher charged ability instead of the Pistol Attack.
  • Royal Dragoons are upgraded into Horse Carabiniers, and gain 40% more hitpoints, 30% more attack, and an additional 30% hand attack.
• The Veteran Bourbons and Royal Guard Bourbons upgrades are researched.
• The in-game demonym changes to "Napoleonic French".

Home City Cards

• Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
• Blue: Shipments that arrive fast (in 5 seconds)

Card	Description
Cantinières	Field Hospitals built limit +4, and auto gather 0.67 food/second. Sansculottes gather food from Berry Bushes 30% faster, Huntable animals 25% faster, Livestock and Cherry Orchards 20% faster, Mills and Farms 15% faster.
Guillotine	You receive 10 wood, 10 coin for each lost economic unit. Sansculottes get ×2.0 bonus damage against Hero
Reign of Robespierre	Sansculottes frighten enemy soldiers and reduce the damage of nearby enemies by 5%. You gain 115 XP from defeating enemy units. The Frighten aura does not stack.
Cult of the Supreme Being	You gain +10% XP from training units and other players receive -10% XP from defeating yours. Sansculottes gather resources from Crates 50% faster; food from Berry Bushes and Cherry Orchards 25% faster; wood from Trees and Mango Groves and coin from Mines 20% faster; food from Huntable animals, Livestock, Mills, Farms and coin from Estates 15% faster.
Storming of the Bastille	Sansculottes get +20% siege attack damage and +10% Siege resistance.
Aerostatic Corps	Your Explorer gains the ability to use a temporary Hot Air Balloon for reconnaissance. The Hot Air Balloons can be called more often and stay longer in the air. The revolution version of this card does not add an XP bounty to the Hot Air Balloons.
16 Revolutionaries	Ships 16 Revolutionaries
Crates of 500 Food, 500 Wood, and 500 Coin	Ships 500 food, 500 wood, 500 coin
National Guard	Ships 2 additional Revolutionaries for each shipment sent so far this game; costs 1,500 food
Client States	Ships 500 coin and 5 Revolutionaries for each Trading Post the player owns.
Sister Republics	Receive 15 random European native units; costs 1,000 food (A list of the potential units can be found below)
Factory	Ships 1 Factory Wagon
2 Horse Artillery	Ships 2 Horse Artillery
Napoleonic Era	Advances the French Revolution to a new era with powerful unit shipments for the player's deck. Adds more cards to the player's deck and enables Napoleon Guns at the Tavern; Upgrades Royal Musketeers and Royal Dragoons into Foot Carabiniers and Horse Carabiniers; costs 1,789 food, 1,815 coin

Napoleonic Era Home City Cards

After sending the "Napoleonic Era" card, more Home City Cards become available.

• Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
• Blue: Shipments that arrive fast (in 5 seconds)

Card	Description
Cantinières	Field Hospitals built limit +4, and auto gather 0.67 food/second. Sansculottes gather food from Berry Bushes 30% faster, Huntable animals 25% faster, Livestock and Cherry Orchards 20% faster, Mills and Farms 15% faster.
Guillotine	You receive 10 wood, 10 coin for each lost economic unit. Sansculottes get ×2.0 bonus damage against Hero
Reign of Robespierre	Sansculottes frighten enemy soldiers and reduce the damage of nearby enemies by 5%. You gain 115 XP from defeating enemy units. The Frighten aura does not stack.
Cult of the Supreme Being	You gain +10% XP from training units and other players receive -10% XP from defeating yours. Sansculottes gather resources from Crates 50% faster; food from Berry Bushes and Cherry Orchards 25% faster; wood from Trees and Mango Groves and coin from Mines 20% faster; food from Huntable animals, Livestock, Mills, Farms and coin from Estates 15% faster.
Storming of the Bastille	Sansculottes get +20% siege attack damage and +10% Siege resistance.
Aerostatic Corps	Your Explorer gains the ability to use a temporary Hot Air Balloon for reconnaissance. The Hot Air Balloons can be called more often and stay longer in the air. The revolution version of this card does not add an XP bounty to the Hot Air Balloons.
Napoleonic Warfare	You receive 120 XP for defeating enemy units; Sansculottes grant -20% XP train bounty
Continental Blockade	Disables Home City Shipments for enemy and allied players for 4 minutes; costs 1,806 coin
16 Revolutionaries	Ships 16 Revolutionaries
Crates of 500 Food, 500 Wood, and 500 Coin	Ships 500 food, 500 wood, 500 coin.
National Guard	Ships 2 additional Revolutionaries for each shipment sent so far this game.
Client States	Ships 500 coin and 5 Revolutionaries for each Trading Post the player owns.
Sister Republics	Receive 15 random European native units; costs 1,000 food (A list of the potential units can be found below)
Factory	Ships 1 Factory Wagon
Robber Barons	Ships 1 Factory Wagon
Hundred Days	Sends a Musketeer for each Villager you lost (up to 100), but Musketeers get -30% hit points and attack; costs 5 food, 5 wood, 5 coin for each sent Musketeer.
2 Horse Artillery	Ships 2 Horse Artillery
1 Heavy Cannon	Ships 1 Heavy Cannon
Grand Battery	Ships 3 Heavy Cannons and 3 Horse Artillery; costs 1,804 coin
Rustam's Regiment	Ships 5 Mamelukes and 5 Gatling Camels; costs 1,798 coin
Hire Bosniaks	Ships 7 Bosniaks; costs 1,000 coin
Hire Mounted Riflemen	Ships 7 Mounted Riflemen; costs 1,000 coin
Thoroughbreds	Cuirassiers, Hussars, and Dragoons cost -15%.
Griveubal System	Falconets, Culverins, and Horse Artillery get +25% attack; Heavy Cannons get +20% attack
Flying Battery	Falconets, Culverins, Mortars, Horse Artillery, Heavy Cannons, Napoleon Guns, and Li'l Bombards get +1.1 speed and -10% Rate of Fire.
Horse Hunters	Dragoons get +1.5× Multiplier vs. Heavy cavalry, +1.2× Multiplier vs. Hand shock infantry and train time -20%.
Imperial Old Guard	Grenadiers get +10% melee, ranged and siege resistance and +100% hand attack (does not apply to the Young Guards from the French Church technologies).
Génie Troops	Enables Grenadiers and Young Guards to mine, chop wood, gather from crates, and construct Barracks, Trading Posts, Stables, Artillery Foundries, Field Hospitals, and Outposts.
French Royal Army	Enables Musketeers and Halberdiers to benefit from Combat Promotion to receive extra hit points and attack for each defeated enemy military unit.
Grande Armée	Allows you to research Imperial upgrades for your military units at a reduced cost. Enables Imperial unit upgrades and reduces their resource costs by -50%; Sansculotte cost +25%

• The extensive list of possible Sister Republic native warriors is as follows:
  • Chevauleger
  • Mountain Trooper
  • Saxon Cuirassier
  • Trabant
  • Northern Musketeer
  • Royal Hunter
  • Drummer
  • Totenkopf Hussar
  • Black Brunswicker
  • Mounted Infantry
  • Line Infantry
  • Royal Dragoon
  • Royal Musketeer

Strategy

Revolutionary France is a peculiar revolution. Instead of transforming all villagers into a military unit, they are transformed into Sansculottes, which are a military/civilian hybrid unit able to do all the tasks of a normal villager. Unlike normal villagers, Sanscullotes are considered military and not villagers by the game, so they can't receive gather rate improvements other than from their specific cards. Their gather rates are inferior to Coureur des Bois and normal villagers (less so for natural resources); however, Sansculottes are cheaper and have better attack than Coureurs des Bois, while having less hit points. If the player also has Native Scouts, they become Eclaireurs, which are native heavy cavalry.

Sansculottes are non-heavy non-light infantry, which have a x2 multiplier against heavy infantry, artillery, and pets in all modes. They have a x0.25 multiplier against villagers in ranged mode and a x1.5 multiplier against defensive buildings. They have 40% ranged resistance and a relatively high siege attack of 32. Like villagers, they have a higher dps in hand attack mode. Their stats are not the best (including their range), even when they are affected by villager upgrades (but less so than villagers), so they perform pretty badly versus anything they do not counter.

Reign of Robespierre makes Sansculottes reduce nearby enemy attack damage by 5%. Guillotine gives them a x2 multiplier versus heroes. These cards increase their utility as support units. Overall, Sansculottes mean Revolutionary France has a pretty bad normal economy, but it is made up for by resource generating shipments (especially for xp), having more cards to send, having better quality units through upgrades, and Field Hospitals (which are effectively value generating structures through their healing).

Revolutionary France is also the only revolution in the game that can increase its Home City deck by sending a shipment: Napoleonic Era. Most of the new cards focus on improving the player's army. Revolutionary France offers the player a way to readapt their strategy when they need to get shipments like Thoroughbreds, Gribeauval System, French Royal Army, and Edict of Nantes, but did not pick a deck that has these shipments.

At first glance, Napoleonic Era seems like a late-game upgrade. However, since it refunds its cost upon completion, the player can rush getting it, especially for the upgraded versions of the House of Bourbon units, as they need no upgrades. Additionally, it advances the user to the Imperial Age, which confers the bonuses of being in the Imperial Age, e.g. heroes get +50% hit points and attack.

The Foot Carabinier and the Horse Carabinier get their unit upgrades for free. They are heavy infantry and light cavalry respectively. The Foot Carabinier has a Grenade Launcher charged ability instead of a Pistol Attack, making it better versus buildings and dense enemy masses. The Foot Carabinier and Horse Carabinier have a much higher dps in hand attack mode, but reduced increased multipliers. This makes the Horse Carabinier perform better versus artillery, villagers, and light infantry.

With Revolutionary France, the French may get access to a total of 55 Home City Cards, discounting the "Napoleonic Era" card, becoming the second largest possible deck, only after the Mexicans if they revolt twice. Unlike most revolutions, Revolutionary France may enable the player to improve all their military units with Imperial Age upgrades thanks to the "Grand Armée" shipment, but the player will still not get access to the Capitol and its upgrades; in a sense, this revolution presents an alternative "Imperial Age" for French players.

Revolutionary France and Napoleonic Era have access to many unit, resource, and wagon shipments, so this is a comparison of them in value (subtracting their cost and multiplying to account for missing unit upgrades):

Revolutionary France; Non-infinite

• Guillotine: Varies.
• National Guard: Varies. 2,500 resources if 20 cards have been sent. Value of Revolutionaries goes down as time goes on, as other units will get their unit upgrades.
• Client States: Varies. 4,000 resources if sent with 4 Trading Posts. 1,000 resources/Trading Post.
• Factory Wagon: Officially 600 resources, but its cost is effectively higher as it uses an Industrial Age shipment instead.

Revolutionary France; Infinite

• 16 Revolutionaries: 1,600 resources. Effectively worth less over time as other units get their unit upgrades.
• 2 Horse Artillery: 1,200 resources. Synergizes with access to Field Hospitals, due to their high ranged resistance and speed to run away.
• 500 food, 500 wood, 500 coin: 1,500 resources. Also, generates xp when using the resources to make units/buildings.

Napoleonic Era; Non-infinite

• Grand Battery: 2,396 resources.
• Rustam's Regiment: 2,961 resources. 1,378 resources if sent after Grand Armée.
• Robber Barons: Officially 600 resources, but its cost is effectively higher as it uses an Industrial Age shipment instead.

Napoleonic Era; Infinite

• Hire Bosniaks: 884 resources. 256 resources if sent after Grand Armée.
• Hire Mounted Riflemen: 1,800 resources. 867 resources if sent after Grand Armée. Mounted Riflemen are heavy cavalry.

Imperial Old Guard stacks well with the Edict of Nantes technologies, especially Old Guard. This makes the French Revolution have a good unit to push down buildings with and deal with dense groups of enemy units in the late game. Génie Troops makes Grenadiers gather from trees and mines quickly (faster than a normal fully upgraded villager for wood), but considering they are fairly niche roles that late in the game, the card is most useful when the ability to build forward buildings, especially Outposts, is also useful.

As the Revolutionary France deck is large, the player should accumulate xp throughout the game and get control of a Trade Route early; fortunately, Revolutionary France already addresses xp generation with some of their shipments, such as "Reign of Robespierre", "Cult of the Supreme Being", and "Napoleonic Warfare". Additional important ways to generate xp are building Trading Posts on minor civilization settlements, building a Church (which synergize with the revolution's effects), having a bigger economy to generate xp when using the gained resources to make units/buildings, and destroying enemy buildings. These actions have utility by themselves, which makes this more viable.

Revolutionary France activates the "Edict of Nantes" shipment, granting the player access to the technologies Young Guard, Middle Guard, Old Guard, and Code Napoleon at the Church, and it also sends the "Master Surgeons" card which enables improved Surgeons at the Church as well. The Edict of Nantes technologies (with the exception of Code Napoleon) will grant and improve Grenadiers. However, the player should avoid Code Napoleon, since its effect does not apply to Sansculottes, so it will only increase the cost of buildings.

Possible opening strategies for Revolutionary France include (some can be used sequentially):

• Send Factory, Client States, Guillotine, and/or Infinite 500 food, 500 wood, and 500 coin until able to afford Napoleonic Era. Immediately start making the upgraded House of Bourbon units. Then send Grand Armée, Horse Hunters, and Thoroughbreds (order depending on the situation), so light cavalry can help stall enemy artillery pushes in the awkward stage before the revolution gets all of its upgrades. Eventually, start pushing with upgraded Grenadiers. Ignore all unit shipments, except in an emergency. The light cavalry units can be complemented by light infantry and/or anti-infantry artillery to cover their weaknesses.
• Immediately train 1 Surgeon, using the effect of them being unlocked, and build 1 Field Hospital to start generating value with its mass healing ability. Most useful if there are already a lot of damaged units and/or the player is expecting aggression from the enemy in the near future, as units are more likely to be damaged and survive when used defensively.
• Immediately send Client States and National Guard. Then send Reign of Robespierre. These can cause a heavy power spike if using the revolt to support and early game focused strategy. Can go switch to development after the initial rush.

Revolutionary France is a good late game revolt, due to many cards, and many strong upgrade and development cards. Especially on maps with fish and whales, due to Fishing Boats being unaffected by the downside of Sansculottes having worse gathering rates. Thus, it can be used as the late game plan for a strategy to free up card slots, especially Factory and Robber Barons. This is most useful for aggressive strategies, since they want to have as many cards available as possible for the earlier Ages. The revolution has a weak normal economy, but can generate considerable value from xp generation cards and Field Hospitals as alternative value generation methods.

Synergistic shipments

• Ranged Infantry Hitpoints: This will benefit Musketeers.
• TEAM Ranged Infantry Attack: Ranged infantry* get +15% attack. Sansculottes are ranged infantry.
• TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack: Hand cavalry* and hand shock infantry* get +15% attack.
• Hand Cavalry Hitpoints: Hussars and Cuirassiers get +15% hit points.
• Cavalry Combat: Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack.
• TEAM French Auxiliaries Combat, Wilderness Warfare and Native Combat: These shipments benefit Eclaireurs and any possible European native units from Sister Republics.
• Native Warriors: Native warriors cost -25%, including Eclaireur.
• Blood Brothers: Upgrades native warriors to Elite/Disciplined/Veteran and Champion/Honored/Royal Guard (if not already); this applies to any unit from Sister Republics.
• Advanced Arsenal: The technologies enabled will benefit all the army.
• Royal Fencing School: Sends 3 Royal Musketeers. Infantry and shock infantry train time -40%.
• Riding School: Cavalry train time -40%; Cuirassier train time -35%.
• Engineering School: Artillery train time -30%, Heavy Cannon train time -10%.
• Castrametation and Fort: Defensive buildings tend to trade efficiently, which can be used to generate a lot of xp, using the xp-generating cards.
• TEAM Louvre: Gives a trickle of 0.1 XP; Town Watch, Gas Lighting, Standing Army, Mass Cavalry, Medical Science, and Mission Fervor cost -50%.
• Voyageur: Synergizes with the buff to heroes in the Imperial Age. It helping for battles and healing can generate xp over time by increasing the number of enemy units killed.
• Furrier, Spice Trade, and Silversmith: The fact the player will eventually run out of natural resources for these cards to buff the gathering of does not matter as much, as eventually the player will revolt and no gathering rate buffs will apply anyway.
• Colbertism, Team Quiche, and Distributivism: Buffs the revolt's weak normal economy. The cards count for more economic units' worth than they usually do.
• All resource and livestock shipments: Generates xp when using the gained resources to make units/buildings. Allows for an easier reach to the revolt to avoid getting the Mill/Estate related upgrades, since they will not do anything once the revolt occurs. Livestock shipments can also help if the player is stuck in the Commerce/Fortress Age is using Revolutionary France to support an aggressive strategy.
• Fish Market and Rendering Plant on maps with fish and whales: The downside of the worse gathering rate of Sansculottes has no effect on Fishing Boats.

Recommended politicians

Commerce Age

• The Naturalist: She gives an early economic boost that may be used for a fast Revolution strategy.
• The Logistician: Provides an Arsenal Wagon and a Military Wagon, which may enable the player to start improving the army early.

Fortress Age

• The Exiled Prince: He will help to perform a fast Revolution strategy.
• The Mercenary Contractor: He will provide the Tavern access to Mounted Riflemen and Royal Horsemen, which will benefit from the military upgrades Revolutionary France provides.
• The Marksman: Ships 6 Skirmishers.
• The Bishop: Improves the economy to generate more xp from making units/buildings.

Industrial Age

• The Cavalry Marshal: Ships 3 Cuirassiers.
• The Papal Guard: Crossbowmen and Pikemen can be upgraded to Guard level for free, Halberdiers can be upgraded to Guard level at a discount. Upon reaching the Napoleonic Era, the Imperial upgrade for Pikemen can be researched immediately, and this upgrade does not get discounted by the "Grande Armée" card.
• The Engineer: Since it is likely the player has an artillery-based deck due to the advantages of Revolutionary France, the Falconets provided are a good addition.
• The King's Musketeer: Ships 10 Musketeers.

Redundant shipments

These Shipments may be available in the base deck, and this revolution has them either by sending them for free or in their deck, but they cannot be shipped twice. If picking Revolutionary France, it is preferable to have a deck without the following cards, as the player can get them through this revolution:

Revolutionary France

• Master Surgeons
• Edict of Nantes
• Factory

Napoleonic Era

• Robber Barons
• Ancien Régime (though the base deck version also makes them cost population, which makes the units able to be massed as the main army)
• Thoroughbreds
• Gribeauval System
• French Royal Army

Changelog

Knights of the Mediterranean

• Originally, Napoleonic Era costs 1,789f 1,804w 1,815c, Sister Republics costs 1,500f, Hundred Days takes 40 seconds to arrive, and Sansculottes gather 0.4 wood/s from trees and 0.5 coin/s from mines. With update 13.38085, French Revolution (IV) activates the Edict of Nantes card to enable Grenadier training in the Church, Napoleonic Era costs 1,789f 1,815c, Sister Republics costs 1,000f, Hundred Days takes 60 seconds to arrive, and Sansculottes gather 0.5 wood/s from trees and 0.66 coin/s from mines.
• With update 13.58326, Continental Blockade (Napoleonic Era) Now arrives fast; Tooltip updated to clarify that allied home cities get blocked as well, Grande Armee (Napoleonic Era) Now also increases the costs of Sansculottes by 25% in exchange for unlocking cheaper Imperial upgrades, Napoleonic Warfare (Napoleonic Era) makes Sansculottes themselves now provide less build XP in exchange for higher XP generation through combat.
• With update 15.30007, Sansculotte (French Revolution) are now considered gatherers in the UI.
• Originally, revolting to Revolutionary France sent the "Advanced Artillery" Home City Card, delivering one Mortar, and the "Horse Hunters" Home City Card give Dragoons +2.0× Multiplier vs. Heavy cavalry and +1.5× Multiplier vs. Hand shock infantry. With Data Patch for Build 15.59076, revolting to Revolutionary France no longer sent the "Advanced Artillery" Home City Card, and the "Horse Hunters" Home City Card give Dragoons +1.5× Multiplier vs. Heavy cavalry and +1.2× Multiplier vs. Hand shock infantry.

Trivia

• The original cost of the Napoleonic Era shipment, like that of George Crushington, is a reference to several historical dates important to the revolution and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte: the Storming of the Bastille in 1789, the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor in 1804, and his restoration in the Hundred Days, and the following defeat at Waterloo in 1815. Similarly, the 1806 coin spent to activate the Continental Blockade shipment represents the fact that the Continental Blockade was announced in 1806.
• The Cantinières card is based on the Cantinières canteen keepers of the French army in the 19th century. The icon in particular depicts their Crimean War period uniform.
• Napoleonic Era is also the name of a mod led by two modders who eventually joined Forgotten Empires.
• Cult of the Supreme Being refers to a form of theocratic deism established by Maximilien Robespierre, which replaced the Cult of Reason.
• Sansculotte refers to the common people of the lower classes in in the late 18th century. It literally means "without breeches", as a reference to what they wore.
• Carabinier refers to wielders of carbines and sometimes similar weapons. The high melee attack of the Carabinier units is pretty flavorful, as it is known for being better at close range.

Gallery

The Home City of Revolutionary France is also Paris, but with a revolutionary appearance. Some Sansculottes can be seen marching and guarding the buildings.