The French corner : Joan or Napoleon or Louis XIV

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Alanus
Louis XIV : It is not because you laught at the way is was dressed that he was a looser. His reign was one of the longest in the history of the French kingdom and ended when he died in his bed

I was just kidding. I realize his reign was the longest of any monarch in Europe at the time of his death.

Honestly though, I'd go with Napolean. But Firaxis was probably short on female leaders, thus Joan. Anyway, she's cuter than Nappy.

[siredgar]

Louis Quatorze was a PIG! He ruined France. In fact, most historians judge him a failure and some attribute his deeds as reasons for why the English surpassed the French in the colonial race, etc.

Anyhow, his reign came when France was already at the height of its empire. Instead, it is people that play pivotal roles in a civilization's history that should be the great leaders, not those who benefit from their predecessors' work. Louis was part of the generation that spent it, not made it.

For example, while I believe FDR was the greatest American leader, it was Abraham Lincoln that kept the union together. Soon thereafter, the U.S. began its journey to become one of the most powerful nations in the world. Imagine if Lincoln did not keep the nation together. The U.S. would only be a major power, not a superpower.

Likewise, while I prefer Napoleon, it was Joan of Arc who preserved the French nation. That's why she's not such a bad choice after all.

[Darkworld Ark]

I myself like Napoleon for three reasons :

1 - He conquered a large amount of Europe
2 - It was Napoleonic troops who found the Rosseta Stone during their conquest of Egypt, allowing us to learn alot more about Egypt
3 - He was the first Anti-Christ, which might not be a good thing, but it sounds cool.

The only reason (in my view) that Joan of Arc is the French leader is that they needed more female leaders. (I think Catherine should have been Stalin or Lenin)

[Whoha]

1)its editable
2)leader heads have been posted
3)I seriously doubt he was the anti christ
4)wheres the le pen option to piss off french ppl

[Darkworld Ark]

Originally posted by Whoha
3)I seriously doubt he was the anti christ

That crazy guy who predicted the future (his name excapes me) said (although not directly) that Napoleon was the first of the threeanti-christs. (Hitler was the second, Saddam might be the third)

[KrazyHorse]

Napoleon's really good choice. Louis XIV is also good, since he embodied the pattern of French military ambition coupled with French military failure.

[Whoha]

The anti christ is supposed to be wearing a blue turban like the guys at the un wear isnt he?

[Max]

The fact is that Joan was not really the french leader at her time. Just an hallucinated (but brilliant) shepherd who helped the
king's army to push back the English to more reasonable boundaries.
I think she could make a good Great Leader for the French in CIV3, but not THE french leader.

Moreover Joan was implicated in military matters only. That is not the case for Napoléon or Charlemagne. Both of them expand their empire on one hand and structurated it at the same time (schools, king's envoys in every province for Charlemagne and laws compiling, administrative organization for Napoléon). I think only one of them can be THE french leader in a game like CIV3.

[Coracle]

Does anyone recall that one of Joan's military leaders, a French marshal, was a vicious serial child murderer??

Check it out:

http://shanmonster.bla-bla.com/witch/witches/gilles.html

[August Borms]

Originally posted by Coracle
Does anyone recall that one of Joan's military leaders, a French marshal, was a vicious serial child murderer??

Yes, I certainly do
Gilles de Rais was the best friend of the main character in the French comic "Tristan" ("Jhen" in French)

http://bd.casterman.com/serie/castjhen/?r=castjmar

[notyoueither]

Charlemagne unknown? In what ignoramus factory?

BTW. My vote is Charlemagne. There are too few modern civs with ancient (?) leaders and Chuck would be a great one.

[Messer Niccolò]

Mais Napoleon naturallement!

[Alanus]

French leaders vs. THE French Civ leader

BTW, the list of leaders (Heroes in the French version) for the French civ in the default game is :
- Napoleon
- De Gaulle
- Richelieu
- Charlemagne

So, most of the ones I’ve initially listed to be candidates for being French Civ leaders.

I don’t see any problem to have them as leaders, except for the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was some sort of prime minister under Louis XIII (the father of Louis XIV). To remain in the same period, I would have rather selected d’Artagnan . It is a real character, though of course the Three Musketeers is a novel where his adventures have been invented.

The list for the French is rather short as compared to other Civs in the default games . The localization team could have extended it for the French version of the game !

The smart choice would have been to have Napoleon as Civ leader and Joan as (army) leader.

[Alanus]

Nicknames

Originally posted by Stuie

Honestly though, I'd go with Napolean. But Firaxis was probably short on female leaders, thus Joan. Anyway, she's cuter than Nappy.

Funny how you (americans ?) are good at finding nicknames. Is "Nappy" a common one for Napoleon, or just a one you invented ?

In France, we would say :
- Napo
- le petit Corse (the little Corsican)
- le petit caporal (the little Corporal)

But nothing like "couches" (nappies for babies)

[siredgar]

Haha, nobody is voting for Louis XIV anymore! =)